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IREE BOOKS.] WELLS'S SERIES OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHIES. [BOOK FIRST. 

_ 

LESSONS 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



BY WALTER WELLS, A. M. 



NEW YORK: 



PUBLISHED BY MASON BROTHERS, 

Nos. 5 & 7 MERCER STREET. 

1861. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by Walter Wells, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the 

United States, of Maine. 



2S S4j 
PREFACE 



®t* 



1. Physical Geography must not be confounded with Physico-Descriptive, or Physico-Statistical Geography. 
The latter two simply state facts ; the former, with the statement of facts, combines a discussion of the facts ; in a 
word, so far as is practicable, it sets forth the causes of and the reasons for the facts. 

2. Physical Geography is not a distinct science, but a summary of or gleaning from many sciences ; discussing 
the Earth and Lands, it borrows from astronomy and geology ; contemplating The Waters, it gathers its materials 
from universal hydrography; under the head of Climate, it simply combines the more comprehensive facts of meteor- 
ology ; and in the department of Organic Existence, it touches upon botany, zoology, and anthropolog3 r . An exhaust- 
ive Physical Geography would exhaust all natural science. 

3. Hence, in making a school-book upon this subject, my principle has been to choose such facts only as are broad- 
est in their scope, — as are most multifarious in their connections and relations, as come nearest to being -universal in 
space and time. 

4. I have endeavored to bring this little essay within the capacity of such scholars as can read with tolerable 
proficiency, and to that end have digested the matter into perhaps a too readily receivable form. 

5. Instead of point-blank questions, I have written catch-words, short phrases, for the greater part ; first, to save 
the breath of the teacher, and secondly, to compel the close attention of the pupil to the discussion at recitation. 

6. Side-notes have been placed upon the pages to show the pupil the progress of the thought, and to indicate the 
bearing of particular facts and reasonings upon the general argument. They are guide-hoards to keep the scholar from 
getting lost in the book. But they will be good for nothing unless the scholar uses them. Therefore, let every learner 
study the side-notes as a part of the lesson, and let the teacher, on his part, take notice of and remark upon them at 
recitation. 

7. I have presented the rationale of the facts, very generally in the form of short chains of argument. The teacher 
must be very careful to have the pupil get hold of them as chains of argument, and not as mere statements to be com- 
mitted to memory ; for thus he will use his materials as fast as he acquires them, and get discipline for his understand- 
ing, as well as furniture for his memory. 



MAPS, CHARTS, AND DIAGRAMS. 



MAPS. 

Page. 

1. Desekts. Volcanoes. Fertile Soil. Co-tidal Lines and Ocean-Tempekature. -----,-23 

2. Contour and Elevation of the Lands. Depression of the Sea-Bed. ---------- 41 

3. Ocean-Currents. River-Systems. _-_----_-__-____„ -62 

4. Lake-Systems. Isotherms. -------------------91 

5. Winds. Monsoons. Hurricanes. Special Winds. ------------.-95 

6. Distribution of Rain and Snow. ------------------ 105 

CHARTS. 

1. The Alternate Bands of Hot and Cold Water in the Gulf-Stream. ----------59 

2. The Temperature of the Gulf-Stream at different depths. ------------66 

DIAGRAMS. 

1. Representing the Earth in its present shape surrounded by its atmosphere. -------- iq 

2. Representing the Earth as cubical in form, and the arrangement of its waters and atmosphere. - - - 10 

3. Representing the great Tide-waves on the opposite sides of the Earth. --------- gg 

i. Showing the Causation of the Tides. ----------------- 5*; 

5. Explaining the Cause of the Change of Seasons. ------------ - - gij 

6. Showing the Influence of the Earth's Shape upon its Temperature. ----------87 

7. Illustrating the Influence of different Slopes upon Temperature. ----------89 

8. Illustrating the General System of Surface-winds. -----«-. -----97 



Of the pictorial illustrations, two, namely Chocorua and Mt. Washington, are from the " White Hills, their Legends, Landscape, and Poetry, by Rev. 
T. Starr King. Published by Crosby, Nichols, Lee & Co., Boston." 

Maps, Charts, and Diagrams executed by Rae Smith, N. Y. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



TAGE. 

Physico-Geographical Definitions, 5 



PART I. 

THE EARTH ATVD THE LANDS. 

CHAPTER I. — The Shape op the Earth. Magnitude of the Earth. Position op the Earth. Motions op the Earth. 9 

CHAPTER II. — The Amount op Land. The Position op the Lands. The Forms of the Lands. ... 13 

CHAPTER III. — Plains. The Distribution of Plains. Plateaus. The Distribution of Plateaus. . . . 16 

CHAPTER IV. — Mountains. Hills. The Distribution op Mountains 20 

CHAPTER V. — Volcanoes. The Distribution op Volcanoes. Islands. The Distribution op Islands. 24 

CHAPTER VI. — Deserts. The Distribution of Deserts. Soil. The Distribution of Fertility 29 

CHAPTER VII. — Phtsico-Descriptive View of the "Western Continent 36 

CHAPTER VIII. — Physico-Descriptive View op the Eastern Continent. . . 42 



PART II. 

T H E "WATERS. 

CHAPTER IX. — The Extent of the Ocean. The Depth op the Ocean. The Shape of the Ocean-Basin. . . 48 

CHAPTER X. — The Saltness op the Ocean. The Temperature of the Ocean 52 

CHAPTER XI.— The Tides. Rationale of the Tides. Co-tddal Lines 56 

CHAPTER XII. — Classification and Causation of the Ocean-Currents. 59 

CHAPTER XIII. — Physico-Descriptive View of the Constant Ocean-Currents. 62 

CHAPTER XIV. — Reasons for the Existence of Ocean-Currents. 66 

CHAPTER XV. — Rivers. Reasons for the Existence of Rivers. Distribution of Rivers 10 

CHAPTER XVI. — Lakes. Reasons for the Existence op Lakes. Distribution op Lakes. .... 16 

CHAPTER XVII. — Physico-Descriptive View op the Several Oceans. 18 

PART III. 

THE ELEMENTS OE CLIMATE. 

CHAPTER XVIII. — Temperature. The Causes thereof. Modifications of Temperature 84 

CHAPTER XIX. — The Stability of Terrestrial Temperature. Isotherms 89 

CHAPTER XX.— General Views of the Winds. Reasons why the "Winds Blow 92 

CHAPTER XXI. — Classification' of "Winds. Constant, Periodical, Variable, and Special "Winds. ... 95 

CHAPTER XXII. — General Views of Rain. Distribution op Rain. Fitness op the System of Rains. . . 100 



PART IY. 



ORGANIC ' EXISTENCE. 

CHAPTER XXIII. — The General Adaptations of Plants. The Variety of Plants. Food-Plants. . . . 105 

CHAPTER XXIV. — The Distribution of Plants. The Floras of the Several Zones 109 

CHAPTER XXV. — Animals. Adaptation of Animals to the Inorganic "World. Adaptation of Animals to 

Plants and to Man 113 

CHAPTER XXVI. — The Distribution of Animals. The Polar, Temperate-Zone, and Tropical Faunas. . . 118 

CHAPTER XXVII.— Man's Physical Characteristics. Man's Intelligence and Position 122 

CHAPTER XXVIII.— The Human Races. Descriptive View op the Races 125 




DEFINITIONS/ 



SECTION I. 

1. Concerning what does Physical Geography teach 1 

It teaches concerning the earth and lands, the 

WATERS, CLIMATE, AND ORGANIC EXISTENCE. 

2. The Earth is 

A Globe or Sphere. 

3. Its Surface. 

Is composed of land and water, 

4. The Diameter of the Earth. 

Is the distance through its center from side to 
side. 



* This Chapter may be omitted by such pupils as, having studied Geog- 
raphy, are sufficiently familiar with these elementary definitions. 



5. The Circumference of the Earth. 

Is the distance round it, measured on a Great 
Circlet 

6. The Axis of the Earth. 

Is an imaginary line passing through the Earth's 
center, from North to South, and terminating at its 
surface. 

7. The Poles of the Earth. 

Are the ends of its axis, called respectively the 
North and South Poles. 

8. What are the Earth's principal motions ? 

Its rotation upon its axis, and its revolution about 
the Sun. 



f A Great Ctrcle is one that divides the Sphere into equal parts ; the 
Equator, or any Meridian, is a Great Circle. 



DEFINITIONS. 



SECTION II. 
CIRCLES ON THE GLOBE. 

9. "What is the Equator, or Equinoctial Line ? 

An imaginary line extending East and "West 
around the Earth, at an equal distance from each 
Pole, and dividing the Earth into the Northern and 
Southern Hemispheres. 

10. Latitude. 

Is Distance from the Equator, either North or 
South. 

11. Distance North of the Equator. 

Is North Latitude ; South of the Equator, South 
Latitude. High latitudes are near the Poles ; Low 
latitudes, near the Line, i. e. the Equator. 

12. Parallels of latitude. 

Are imaginary circles extending round the Earth 
from East to West, parallel with the Equator. 

13. Latitude is reckoned. 

In degrees from the Equator to the Poles : at 
the Line it is 0°, at the Poles 90°. 

14. The Tropics. 

Are imaginary circles drawn round the Earth 
parallel with the Line, 23° 28' distant from it. 

15. The Northern Tropic. 

Is called the Tropic of Cancer ; the Southern 
Tropic, the Tropic of Capricorn. 

16. The- Polar Circles. 

Are imaginary lines drawn round the Earth par- 
allel with the Tropics, 23° 28' distant from the 
Poles. 

17. The Northern Circle. 

Is called the Arctic Circle; the Southern, the 
Antarctic Circle. 

18. Meridians. 

Are imaginary circles extending North and South 
through the Poles of the Earth, and intersecting 
the Equator at right angles. 

19. Longitude. 

Is distance East or "West from any given me- 
ridian. 



20. East Longitude. 

Is distance East, and West Longitude distance 
West of any given meridian. 

21. Longitude is reckoned. 

In general from the Prime Meridian of Green- 
wich, England, 180° East and West. 



SECTION III. 

HEMISPHERES. — ZONES. 

22. A hemisphere. 

Is half of a globe or sphere ; when applied to 
the Earth, it means Half of the Earth. 

23. The Eastern Hemisphere. 

Lies East of the Prime Meridian ; the Western 
Hemisphere "West of the Prime Meridian. 

24. The Northern Hemisphere. 

Lies North of the Line ; the Soutliern Hemis- 
phere, South of the Line. 

25. Zones. 

Are divisions of the Earth's surface formed by 
the Tropics and Polar Circles. There are five 
Zones, — one Torrid, two Temperate, and two Frigid. 

26. The Torrid Zone. 

Lies between the two Tropics ; hence it is some- 
times called the tropics. 

27. The North-Temperate Zone. 

Lies between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arc- 
tic Circle. 

28. The South-Temperate Zone. 

Lies between the Tropic of Capricorn and the 
Antarctic Circle. 

29. The North-Frigid Zone. 

Extends from the North Pole in all directions to 
the Arctic Circle. 

30. The South-Frigid Zone. 

Extends in all directions from the South Pole to 
the Antarctic Circle. 



DEFINITIONS. 



SECTION IV. 

THE NATURAL DIVISIONS OF LAND. 

31. The land is divided into. 

Continents, Islands, Peninsulas, Isthmuses, Capes, 
Shores or Coasts. 

32. As respects elevation above tlie sea. 

It is divided into Plains, Plateaus, and Mount- 
ains. 

33. A Continent. 

Is a vast area of land nowhere entirely disjoined 
or broken by the sea. 

34. How many Grand Continents ? 

Two : The Eastern lying East of the Prime Me- 
ridian ; and the Western lying West of the Prime 
Meridian. 

35. The Eastern Continent embraces whatl 
Embraces three Grand Divisions, Europe, Asia, 

and Africa. 

36. The Western Continent embraces what 1 
Embraces two Grand Divisions, North America 

and South America. 

37. Another Grand Division. 

Is added by some geographers, called Oceanica, 
composed entirely of islands in the Pacific and In- 
dian Oceans. 

38. An Island. 

Is a body of land smaller than a continent, en- 
tirely surrounded by water. 

39. Islands differ from continents. 

Only in size, for the continents are surrounded 
by water, and are themselves islands. 

40. A Peninsula. 

Is a portion of land almost surrounded by water. 

41. An Isthmus. 

Is a narrow neck of land joining two larger bod- 
ies of land. 



42. A Cape. 

Is a point of land extending into the water ; a 
lofty precipitous cape is called a promontory. 

43. A Shore or Coast. 

Is an edge or margin of land bordering on the 
water. 

44. A Plain in Geography. 

Is a surface of land moderately elevated, and 
generally level, though perhaps somewhat undulat- 
ing and broken. 

45. A Plateau. 

Is an elevated plain. 

46. A Mountain. 

Is a mass of elevated land of great height but of 
limited extent* 

47. A Volcano. 

Is a mountain that sends forth gas, smoke, flame, 
and lava, i. e. melted earth and rocks, from an open- 
ing called a crater. 



SECTION V. 

THE NATURAL DIVISIONS OF WATER. 

48. The waters are divided into. 

Oceans, Seas, Gulfs, Archipelagoes, Bays, Straits, 
Channels, Sounds, Lakes, and Rivers. 

49. An Ocean. 

Is a vast body of salt water. 

50. A Sea. 

Is a body of salt water smaller than an ocean, 
and mostly surrounded by Land. 

51. A Gulf or Bay. 

Is a part of some larger body of water extending 
into the land. 



* A Mountain is commonly defined, " A vast elevation of land," a 
definition that more properly applies to a plateau. 



DEFINITIONS. 



52. An Archipelago. 

Is a body of water interspersed with many isl- 
ands. 

53. A Strait. 

Is a narrow passage of water, separating two 
portions of land, and uniting two bodies of water. 

54. A Channel. 

Is a passage of water wider than a strait. 



55. A Sound. 

Is a shallow Strait or Channel. 

56. A Lake. 

Is a body of water either salt or fresh, surround- 
ed by land. 

57. A River. 

Is a large stream of water flowing upon the land. 




-^^^=5#i^^ 



WHITE HEAD, PORTLAND HARBOR, ME. 



_j 



PART I 



THE EARTH AND THEE LANDS. 




MOrXT WASHINGTON. 



CHAPTER I 



The Shape of the Earth. The Magnitude of the Earth. The Position of 
the Earth. The Motions of the Earth. 



THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH. 

1. What is the Shape of the Earth. 1 
Globular or Spherical. 

2. How did it get this shape 1 

The Earth was once molten with 
heat, and it then became round, like 
a drop of quicksilver or melted lead 



Cause of its shape. 



3. What /owe made it round 1 

It thus became round in virtue of the attraction 
of gravity, by which all parts of a mass are drawn 
towards its center. 

4. Why ought the Earth to be globular 1 

No other form would allow such 
a distribution of light and heat, of ! 



Reasons why it 
should be globu- | 
lar. 



10 



GENERAL YIEWS OF THE EAKTH. 



air and water, as would be consistent with the 
comfort or even life of organic existences. 

5. To illustrate this, draw and explain Diagram 1st. 

Ko.l 




It represents the Earth as cat right clown through 
the center, and by the thin dark rim, shows how shal- 
low is the atmosphere which surrounds it. Yet the 
atmosphere though only -jg-tr" 1 P al 't so thick through 
as the Earth, nevertheless can and does cover the 
whole earth because the Earth is round. Hence 
plants and animals have air to breathe over the 
ivhole Earth* 

6. Also, Diagram 2d. 




It represents the Earth as (by supposition) cubic- 
al or square in form, and as cut right down through 
the center. The shading shows how the waters 
and atmosphere would be piled up into ovals, and 
how the edges and corners of the Earth would 
protrude beyond them for hundreds of miles.* 



7. Life upon the edges and corners. 

No plant or animal could live upon the edges and 
corners, for no air or water would be there. 'Nor 
could they live in the middle part of the sides, be- 
cause both the air and the water would lie deep 
enough to drown them. 



8. Is the Earth perfectly spherical 1 ? 

It is spheroidal, i. e. spherelike in 
form ; bulges at the Equator, and 
flattens at the Poles. 



The Earth's sphe- 
roiditv. 



Cause thereof. 



9. What makes it bulge and flatten 1 
The rotation of the Earth upon i 

its axis, just as the clay upon a pot- 
ter's wheel bulges and flattens in parts correspond- 
ing to the Equator and Poles. 

10. Why is the Earth's form spheroidal 1 
If it were not, the waters would 



Reasons therefor. 



cover the whole tropical region of 
the Globe to the depth of miles 
above the tallest mountains ; where- 
as the Polar regions would have no water at all. 
Thus scarcely any part of the Earth would be hab- 
itable.* 



THE MAGNITUDE OE THE EAKTH. 

11. The Earth's mean diameter. 

The mean diameter of the Earth is 7,912 miles. 

12. Maximum diameter. 

The diameter of the Earth through the Equator 
from side to side, is 7,925 miles. 

13. Minimum diameter. 

The diameter of the Earth from Pole to Pole, is 
7,899 miles. 

14. The difference. 

Its Equatorial diameter is twenty-six miles great- 
er than its Polar diameter; so that the Earth's crust 
is sprung upward thirteen miles at the Equator, in 
a mighty continuous arch spanning from Pole to 
Pole! 

* See Book Second of Series for a fuller presentation. 



GENERAL VIEWS OF THE EARTH. 



11 



15. Earth's circumference in miles. 

The circumference of the Earth is in round num- 
bers 25,000 miles. 

16. Other dimensions. 

Area of surface, 196,820,000 square miles ; Solid 
Contents, 200,000,000,000 (two-hundred-thousand 
million) cubic miles. 



The Earth just 
large enough. 



17. Earth's size just right. 
It can be shown that the Earth's 

magnitude is just suited to the ne- 
cessities of the case in every particular. 

18. Suppose, however, its diameter to be halved. 

Then everything else being as now, the atmosphere 
would be so deep that no created thing could live 
in it ; for all living things require an atmosphere 
about fifty miles deep, but it would then be over 
two-hundred. 

19. The waters moreover. 

Would cover the entire Globe to the depth of 
miles, and so our now beautiful World would be on- 
ly a waste of waters. 

20. If the Earth's diameter were doubled. 

Then the atmosphere would be so shallow and 
rare that neither man, animal, nor plant could live 
an hour in it. 

21. How deserts would result. 

The lands would be so enormously expanded that 
rain-winds could not reach their interiors, and vast 
deserts would occupy the major part of the land. 

22. Finally, man would have too heavy a burden. 

Man has not yet succeeded in subduing the Earth 
even at its present dimensions ; under the supposi- 
tion it would have a four-fold greater surface, and his 
task in subduing it would be too mighty for him. 

23. What then of the Earth's magnitude ? 

As it is, it is just right, because it is in perfect 
adaptation to the wants of all the living things that 
dwell upon the face of the Earth. 



THE POSITION OF THE EARTH. 

24. Average distance of the Earth from the Sun. 

95,000,000 of miles. 

25. When nearer the Sun ? 

During the Winter of the Northern Hemisphere 
it is nearer the Sun by one and one half millions of 
miles. 

26. When farther off? 

During the Summer of the Northern Hemisphere 
it is one and a half millions of miles farther off 
from the Sun. 

27. When are we nearest the Sun ? 

During the Winter we are 3,000,000 of miles 
nearer the Sun than during the Summer. 

28. Why the average distance is as it is. 
If we were twice as far from the 

Sun, our average temperature would 
fall to 30° below zero ; if half so far 
from the Sun, our temperature would 
rise to 400° above zero.* 

29. So that the Earth is located. 

In the temperate zone of the Solar System, in 
exactly that part of it where just enough of light 
and heat falls upon the Earth to secure the comfort 
of its inhabitants. 



Earth's position 
just right. 



THE MOTIONS OE THE EARTH. 

30. Principal motions of the Earth. 
Two : an annual Revolution round the Sun, and 
a diurnal Rotation upon its axis. 

81. Rapidity of its revolution. 

Sixty-eight thousand (68,000) miles an hour; six- 
ty-one times more rapid than the winged cannon- 
ball, and six-hundred times swifter than the arrowy 
flight of the eagle. 

32. Suppose it revolved less rapidly. 

Then, first, the length of the year 
would be increased; and all plants 
and animals, which now find that 



* See Book Second of Series. 



Reasons why it 
revolves as it does. 



12 



GENERAL VIEWS OF THE EARTH. 



length in adaptation to their periods of growth and 
reproduction, would find the beautiful harmony 
turned into confusion and discord. 

33. Secondly, what of heat and cold 1 

Both would be destructively extreme ; the "Win- 
ter, doubled in length and augmented in severity, 
would freeze vegetation to death, and the Summer 
would parch and wither whatever should escape the 
frosts. 

34. Thirdly, lahor and food-supplies. 

The periods of labor would be protracted beyond 
the endurance of the humaiij animal, and even veg- 
etable constitution ; and in the long Winters the 
chances and the severities of famine would be en- 
hanced in case of a short crop. 

35. Lastly, fall into the Sun. 

If the Earth were to revolve less rapidly, nothing 
but the miraculous interposition of God could 
prevent it from falling into the Sun ; no inferior ve- 
locity would enable the Globe to keep on its track 
in spite of the enormous attractive force of the Sun. 

36. If the Earth should revolve more swiftly. 

If it were to revolve more swiftly, nothing but a 
miracle could keep it from flying from the Sun into 
the outer darkness and cold of space, so that every 
living thing would perish, starved and frozen. 

37. Even if prevented from flying off. 

The year would be shortened, plants could not 
mature, nor harvests ripen ; the food-supplies of the 
World would be cut off, and thus everything living 
would die a death lingering and terrible. 

38. The Earth's Rotation. 

Maximum velocity 1,040 miles per 
hour at the Equator, a trifle less than 
that of a cannon-ball ; its -period, 
called a Day, is the unit for measur- 
ing time; its most striking effect, - 
of day and night. 

39. Its physical cause. 

We know nothing about it ; we can only refer 
the fact to the impulse of the creative hand ; no 



The Earth'B ro- 
tation and its ra- 
tionale. 



■the alternation 



other member of the Solar System received pre- 
cisely the same impulse, for no other rotates in the 
same time. 

40. Why does the Earth rotate at all 1 

If it di'd not, each day would be six months long 
and each night six ; the heat, the glare, the drought 
of the one, would be as utterly destructive to all 
life, as the blinding darkness and the palsying cold 
of the other.* 

41. Why not rotate in twelve hours 1 

Because there would be only 44- hours per diem 
of deep and sleep-favoring darkness, after subtract- 
ing twilight and the day; whereas men and ani- 
mals require on an average not less than eight 
hours. Sailors are the shortest-lived of men, in part 
because their natural rest is broken. 

42. As to plants also. 

Plants need upon an average twelve hours a day 
of sunlight and twelve of shade, to fulfill the vari- 
ous functions of their life. This is especially true 
of plants in low latitudes. 

43. In point of labor. 

The times of labor and rest to man, animals, and 
plants, would be infringed upon; times now just in 
harmony with the length of day ; of plants, we say, 
for the day-time is the time for work to plants as 
truly as to animals. 

44. Why not rotate in forty-eight hours ■? 

Both day and night would be too long for man, 
animals, and plants ; the one too long for wakeful- 
ness, activity, and thought ; the other too long for 
rest and slumber. No man, no plant, no animal, 
can habitually wake or sleep twenty-four hours. 

45. Thus, in mid and in high latitudes. 

Man and animals have to hide themselves from 
the continuous daylight for rest, and plants bow 
their heads and go to sleep before sunset, compelled 
by an inexorable law of their constitution. 

* See Second Book of Seriea. 



THE AMOUNT OF LAND. 



13 



■ 46. As to heat and cold. 

The daily variation of temperature would be- 
come destructively great; a continuous tropical 
sunlight of twenty-four hours would kill every 
plant exposed to it ; a night twenty-four hours long 
would have a frost at sunrise, even beneath the 
Equator. 



47. What conclusion do we reach 1 
That all the general conditions 



General conclu- 
sion. 



of the Earth, — its Shape, its Magnitude, its Posi- 
tion, its Motions, are consummately adjusted to the 
necessities of the case, and that the Earth is one 
noble harmony. 

48. How have we reached that conclusion 1 

By supposing the Earth to be changed in the 
above features, and noting what disastrous conse- 
quences would certainly result from the changes, 
however slight they might be. 



CHAPTER II. 



The Amount of Land. The Position of the Lands. The Forms of the Lands. 



THE AMOUNT OF LAND. 

49. Area of the Earth's surface. 
196,820,000 square miles. 

50. How much is land ? 

54,820,000 square miles ; 47,320,000 square miles 
in the Continents, 7,500,000 square miles in the 
Islands. 

51. An apparent waste. 

At first sight there would seem 
to be a great waste in having only 
so small a portion of the Earth's 
surface occupied with land. 

52. Is the land all improved % 

Not one-fourth of the land has been put to use 
and improved, and therefore to have more, would 
simply involve still greater waste. 

53. "fhe lands as respects civilization. 

The vastness of the lands by obstructing the in- 
tercourse of mankind, has delayed civilization, more 



Not 


a 


■waste 


to have 


so 


much 


land. 







than the vastness of the oceans has delayed it. So 
that scarcely do we want more land. 

54. Why then is there so much land 1 

1st : Because in ages to come, men may actually 
need all the land there is ; mankind may and prob- 
ably will become vastly more numerous than at 
present. 

55. Secondly, why'? 

Because so much was needed to make any of it 
suited for the present orders of living things. 

56. This point more fully. 

Long before Adam was created, much of the 
present land-surface, was covered with water ; con- 
sequently the little land there was, was bog and 
morass, because the waters held dominion on the 
Globe. 

57. Hence what follows 1 f 



Result of chang- 
ing the amount of 
land. 



Any diminution of the present 
amount of land tends to restore that 
state of things, because it tends to 
restore the waters to their former dominion. 



14 



THE POSITION OF THE LANDS. 



58. What lived upon the land at that time 1 
Reptiles, vipers, and creeping things, small and 

great. Man, the nobler vegetables and animals, 
could not exist upon the Earth at that time, because 
it was so boggy and rain-drenched. 

59. The effect of diminishing the lands considerably. 
Would be to destroy all the nobler plants and 

animals, by removing the conditions essential to 
their existence, or at least, to their health and well- 
being. 

60. The effect of increasing the amount of land. 

First : It would obstruct human intercourse, and 
thus retard the march of civilization ; the hardest 
battle man has, is to overcome vast land-spaces. 

61. Second, the effect as respects deserts. 

It would render inevitable the existence of larger 
and more frightful deserts than now exist upon the 
Globe. 

62. How so "i 

Several millions of square miles of land are des- 
erts even now for want of water; but if there were 
more land, there would be Jess rain, and more de- 
mand for rain, and hence more deserts for want of 
rain. 

63. What then of the present amount of land 1 

It is just such as is needed in the present order of 
things; it could not be considerably increased or 
diminished without disastrous consequences. 



Land in the sev- 
eral Hemispheres. 



THE POSITION OF THE LANDS. 

64. Area of land in the Northern and Southern Hemis 
pheres. 

In the Northern Hemisphere 
39,820,000 square miles; in the 
Southern Hemisphere 15,000,000 
square miles. 

65. In the Eastern and Western Hemispheres % 

In the Eastern 38,820,000 square miles; in the 
Western, 16,000,000 square miles; this is not a 
P/iT/sz'co-geographical fact, because nature recog- 
nizes no Eastern or Western Hemisphere. 



Land in the sev- 
eral Zones. 



66. Striking feature. 

The most striking feature in the Position of the 
lands, is the immense preponderance of land in the 
Northern Hemisphere; neither the physical cause 
of nor reason for this fact can be assigned. 

67. What is worthy of notice, however - ! 

That water occupies that Hemisphere (the South- 
ern) whose Summer-heat and Winter-cold tend to 
be most intense ; and that land prevails in the 
Northern, whose climatic extremes tend to be less 
severe. 

68. Area of land in the several Zones. 
In the Torrid, 21,000,000 square 

miles ; in the Temperate, 30,000,000 
square miles ; in the Frigid, so far 
as ascertained, 3,000,000 square miles. 

69. Pre-Adamite positions of the land. 

The lands had entirely different locations in 
the ages before the creation of man. The present 
lands must have been submerged forages, to show 
oceanic action and marine remains on so vast a scale 
as they do. 

70. But what of the present positions 1 
They are such on the whole as 

best fit the Earth to be the dwell- 
ing-place of ihe living things -up- 
on it, and could not be materially 
and essentially changed without detriment.* 

71. If the lands were all in the Torrid Zone. 

Then first, the rain-supplies of the Earth would 
be inadequate, for the land would need more rain, 
whereas there would be much less than at present. 

72. Secondly, plants and animals. 

All other than tropical plants and animals would 
be blotted out of existence, and the World be shorn 
of one half of its glory and usefulness. 

73. Thirdly, man. 

The Torrid Zone is not as favorable to the phys- 
ical, mental, and moral development of mam as the 
Temperate Zones. 

* See Second Book of Series. 



Why the lands 
are where they 
are. 



THE FORMS OF THE LANDS. 



15 



74. Then why not have all the lands in the Temperate 
Zones T 

Because all Tropical and Polar plants and an- 
imals would have no favorable conditions for living; 
and the Earth was made, in part, to give them a 
chance to live, and live comfortably. 

75. Why have any land in the Frigid Zones 1 
Because thousands of animals, and millions of 

birds, put that land to use ; to say nothing of myr- 
iads of plants that have a right to life, even though 
they are very small and very humble. 



General view of 
the land-forms. 



THE FORMS OP THE LANDS. 

76. Prevailing form of the lands. 
The triangular form ; both the 

Americas are triangles, also Africa ; 
and Asia, with Europe, forms a 
triangle whose vertex is Spain, and 
whose base rests on the Pacific Ocean. 

77. Advantages of this form. 
Eirst, a greater length of coast 

open to commerce is thus secured, 
than would be if the lands were 
circular or square. 

78. Secondly, as to winds. 

The interiors of the continents are vastly more 
open to the vapor-bearing and climate-tempering 
winds of the sea, than if they were square or cir- 
cular. 



Reasons for the 
forms of the lands. 



Different con- 
tours of the lands. 



79. Do the Grand Divisions have similar contours'! 

They do not; Europe and North 
America have irregular contours 
or a broken coast-line ; Africa and 
South America an unbroken coast 
or shore. 

80. Is an irregular coast-line an advantage 1 

It is, because it opens the way to commerce, and" 
suffers the influence of the sea to extend into the 
land. 

81. Europe in proof. 

Europe has an exceedingly broken coast, hence 
her opportunities for commerce, her temperate and 
harvest-favoring climate. 

82. On the other hand. 

Africa and Australia have scanty facilities for 
commerce, and a dry, parching climate, in part be- 
cause not opened to the sea by a broken coast. 

83. Why did not Providence give all the lands a broken 
coast 1 

For the same reason that he does not give all 
men the same measure of health, talent, and oppor- 
tunity ; because he did not choose to, and because 
he could not have done it without a miracle. 

84. What alone is required of each of the lands 1 

To improve the gifts it has ; and each has its pe- 
culiar gifts in point of which it is superior to all the 
rest. 



16 



PLAINS. 



CHAPTER III 



Plains. Distribution of Plains. Plateaus. Distribution of Plateaus. 



Mean elevation 
of the lands. 



General view of 
plains. 



PLAINS. 

85. Mean elevation of the lands. 
If the lands were all smoothed 

off to a level, the height of that 
level would be 1,612 feet above the 
surface of the sea.* 

86. All vertical Geographic measurements. 

All Geographic measurements of Elevation and 
of Depression are made from the Level of the Sea, 
because this alone, is not subject to variation ; the 
lands rise and sink, but the ocean's volume is the 
same from age to age — 

" Such as Creation's morn beheld, so rolls it now." 

87. The Plain. 

Is the prevailing form of surface 
upon the lands; nearly three-fifths 
of all the lands are plains. 

88. A Plain in Geography. 

A surface of land moderately elevated, and gen- 
erally level, though perhaps rolling in undulations, 
ridged with hills, furrowed with ravines, or traversed 
by valleys. 

89. How came the lands to be plains 1 
All the lands have been, at one 

time or other, submerged by the 
ocean ; the dissolving action of the 
waters, aided by currents and tides, 
wore away the surface of the lands to plains. 

* This is 604 feet higher than Humboldt assigns in his Cosmos ; his figure 
being 1,008 feet. Since his calculations were made, surveys have proved 
that the whole of western North America is an enormous upland, and ex- 
plorations in South Africa have showed the same to be true of that region. 
His figure is certainly much too low. 



Cause of the 
plains. 



90. Moreover, other forces. 

The rains, and the winds, and the dews, and the 
lightning, and all the motors of nature, have helped 
wear away the asperities of the land ; and though 
thej' work slowly, yet in myriads of ages they ac- 
complish much. 

91. Why were the lands thus smoothed down 1 

First, because the great and uni- 
versal labor of mankind, namely, 
the cultivation of the Earth, would 
by this means be greatly lightened. 



Reasons why the 
lands are largely 
plains. 



92. And second. 

Because the intercourse of man with man from 
one side of the lands to the other would be facilitat- 
ed, and just in the same proportion would civilization 
be advanced. 

93. How the Earth's surface once was. 

Before the surface of the Earth was thus worn 
down, it was undoubtedly like the surface of the 
Moon, craggy, precipitous, and rugged, almost be- 
yond conception. 

94. Man could not do whatl 

Man could not live comfortably, or even tolerably, 
upon such a surface ; could not carry on the inev- 
itable labors of life ; could not become a social, civ- 
ilized, nationalized being. 

95. The universality of plains, then. 

Evinces the providential care of the Creator, and 
the pains he took to render the Earth fit for the 
residence of man. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF PLAINS. 



17 



See Map 2, page 
43. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OP PLAINS. 

96. The entire bed of the Ocean. 

Constitutes one vast and contin- 
uous plain, whose area is 135,000,- 
000 square miles, and whose depres- 
sion below the oceanic surface is 
two miles on an average. 

97. The entire center of the Western Continent. 

Consists of plains extending from the Arctic 
Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Carib- 
bean Sea to the southern extreme of Patagonia. 

98. Division of this Plain-System. 

This system of Plains consists of two grand di- 
visions, the Central Plain of North America, 
and the Central Plain of South America. 

99. Dimensions of the North- American Plain. 

It is 2,500 miles long ; 2,500 broad in the North, 
and 1,000 in the South; average breadth 1,800 miles; 
area 4,500,000 square miles. 

100. Two water-sheds. 

Are formed upon it by a gentle elevation of its 
surface from East to West in the mid latitudes of 
the Continent; this ridge separates the tributaries 
of the Arctic Ocean from those of the Gulf of 
Mexico. 

101. Boundaries of the South-American Plain. 

It is bounded on the West by the Andes, on the 
East by the Atlantic Ocean and the Brazilian 
Mountains; on the North by the Atlantic and 
the Mountains of Guiana, and on the South it termi- 
nates in a point. 

102. Its dimensions. 

Are, length 3,900 miles ; breadth varying from 
900 to 1,800 miles, on an average about 840 miles ; 
area 3,500,000 square miles. 

103. These two Plains in point of form. 

Strongly resemble each other, both being trian- 
gles with their vertices pointing South, and their 
bases trending Northwest and Southeast. 



104. Both also. 

Are fertile, well-watered, and channeled by 
mighty rivers; both have enormous wooded re- 
gions, the Woods of central North Am'erica, and 
the Selvas of the Amazon; both have vast grassy 
tracts, the Prairies of North America, and the Llanos 
and Pampas of South America. 

105. The main points of dissimilarity. 

Are that the northern plain lies in the Temperate 
Zone chiefly, the southern in the Torrid ; the north- 
ern contains deserts of considerable size, the south- 
ern none of any extent ; the northern is broken by 
indentations of the sea, the southern is nowhere en- 
tered by the sea ; the northern has outjutting pe- 
ninsulas, the southern none ; the northern has enor- 
mous lakes, the southern none. 

106. The Eastern Continent North of the parallel of 50°. 
Consists of a vast plain that stretches through 

France, Germany, Russia, and Siberia, from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, its continuity being 
broken only by the Ural Mountains. 

107. The boundaries of this Great Northern Plain. 

On the North are the waters of the Polar Ocean, 
on the South the huge mountain-chains that form 
the spine of Europe- Asia. 

108. Dimensions of the Great Northern Plain. 

Length over 190°, or about 10,500 miles ; breadth 
500 miles on an average; area 5,250,000 square 
miles. 

109. Characteristics of the Great Northern Plain. 

Climate humid and temperate in the West, dry 
and excessive in the East. Soil good in the West, 
barren in the East. Surface so level that not an 
eminence need be crossed so high as the Great 
Pyramid, from ocean to ocean. 

110. Another immense plain. 

Extends across the North of Africa through 
Egypt, Arabia, and Hindoostan, and laps upon 
Farther India; its continuity is broken by the 
mountains of Egypt, Arabia, and Hindoostan, and 
by indentations of the sea. 



18 



P LATEAUS. 



THEIE DISTRIBUTION. 



111. This Great Southern Plain is bounded. 

On the North by the Atlas Mountains, the Med- 
iterranean Sea, the Mountains of Persia, and the 
Himalayas; on the South by the Plateau of South 
Africa and by the Indian Ocean. 

112. Dimensions of the Southern Plain. 

Eange in longitude 105° ; breadth from 200 to 
1,000 miles ; area from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 square 
miles. 

113. Characteristics of the Southern Plain. 

Climate excessively arid and hot in the West, 
humid and hot in the East; soil miserably barren 
in the West, exceedingly productive in the East. 

114. The Northern and Southern Plains compared. 
The one is North of the great mountain-spine of 

the continent, the other South ; the one has a cli- 
mate moist and cool, the other dry and hot ; the 
one is fertile in the West, and infertile in the East; 
whereas the other is barren in the West, and fertile 
in the East. 

115. Australia so far as known. 

Is a vast plain, skirted on the East by mountains, 
and so slightly elevated as to be very largely in the 
central parts below the level of the sea. 



Definition of 
plateaus. 



PLATEAUS. 

116. A Plateau is what 1 

A Plateau or Table-land is a 
highly elevated plain. 

117. When does a plain become a plateau % 

When elevated so high as to have its climate, 
distribution of rains, of plants and animals, mod- 
ified largely thereby ; perhaps, in general, a plain 
may be regarded as a plateau, if its elevation equals 
2,000 feet. 

118. What produced the table-lands % 

The subterranean volcanic forces 
that raised the continents from be- 
neath the waters, acting in some lo- 
calities with unusual power, lifted 
large portions of the land to the height of plateaus. 



Cause of the 
table-lands. 



Reasons for the 
existence of table- 
lauds. 



119. Area of all the plateaus. 

Somewhat less than two-fifths of all the lands 
is occupied with plateaus. 

120. Why do plateaus exist 1 
Whatever reasons there are for 

the existence of plains in general, 
the same hold good for the exist- 
ence of plateaus, because plateaus 
are plains ; together with the additional considera- 
tions subjoined. 

121. First, transition-slopes. 

They serve as stepping-stones, or transition-planes 
between lowlands and mountains, facilitating human 
intercourse, and affording easy slopes down which 
rivers may run with measured rapidity. 

122. Secondly, summer-retreats. 

In hot countries they furnish cool retreats from 
the summer-heats of the plains ; and drier, purer 
airs for such as languish amid the humid sultriness 
of the lowlands. 

123. Thirdly, moisture. 

They gather moisture from the clouds upon their 
bluff borders, and thus supply the rivers of the low- 
lands during the seasons of drought. 

124. Fourthly, variety of products. 

Such plants and animals can live upon plateaus as 
cannot thrive upon the neighboring plains, and hence 
the productions and wealth of a country are en- 
hanced by them. 



See Map 2, page 
43. 



THE DISTRIBUTION" OF PLATEAUS. 

125. The Continents themselves. 

When contrasted with the bed of 
the ocean, are stupendous table- 
lands, whose mean elevation above 
the sunken plain of the sea-bottom 
is Two and a quarter miles. 

126. The plateaus to be mentioned hereafter. 
Are simply subordinate or secondary uplands 
piled upon the surface of those primary highlands! 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF PLATEAUS. 



19 



the continents ; or rather those parts of the pri- 
mary highlands which were upheaved the highest. 

127. The Grand Plateau -System op the Western 
Continent. 

Forms a basis upon which the Andean and Eocky 
Mountains rest, an upland 8,000 miles long, and 
from 100 to 1,500 broad. 

128. The Plateau-System of North America. 
Extends from the Isthmus to the Arctic Ocean ; 

bounded on the West by the Pacific Ocean, on the' 
East by the 105th meridian ; area 3,500,000 square 
miles. 

129. Divisions of the North- American Plateau-System. 
The North-American Plateau-System is divided 

into the Plateau of Mexico, the Great Interior 
Basin, and the Rocky- Mountain Plateau: merely 
different names to different parts of one vast sys- 
tem. 

130. The Appalachian Plateau. 

Situated in the eastern part of the United States, 
is a long narrow upland, which follows the trend of 
the coast, and extends 800 miles from South to 
North. 

131. The Plateau-System op South America. 

Extends nearly the whole length of the conti- 
nent, 4,400 miles long, 350 broad, area 1,540,000 
square miles. 

132. The Brazilian Plateau. 

Strongly resembles the Appalachian in point of 



direction, length, and general elevation, and differs 
from it only in having a greater width. 

133. The Grand Plateau-System of the Eastern 
Continent. 

Extends in a continuous belt of highlands from 
the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian and Black Seas; 
and from thence through the disconnected highlands 
of Turkey, Austria, Switzerland, and Spain, to the 
Atlantic Ocean. 

134. This Plateau-System forms what 1 

The basis of the various mountain-chains that 
constitute the spine of the continent, Europe-Asia. 

135. The successive links in this chain of uplands. 

Are the Plateaus of Spain, Switzerland, Aus- 
tria, and Turkey ; the Plateau of Asia Minor ; 
the Plateau of Iran, and the Great Oriental Plat- 
eau. 

136. Africa South of the desert-plain of Sahara. 

Is supposed to be an enormous plateau of 2,500 
feet average elevation ; explorations so far as made, 
justify the assignation of a still greater elevation. 

137. Characteristics of table-lands. 

Table-lands are noted for infertility of soil, for 
aridity, and for excessive heat and cold; but 
they are noted also for salubrity, and for the invig- 
orating influence exerted by them upon the bodily 
and mental constitution of man. 



20 



MOUNTAINS, 




CHOCORUA. 



CHAPTER IV. 



mountains. Hills. The Distribution of Mountains. 



MOUNTAINS. 

138. What is a mountain ? 

( See Geographical Definitions, 



General features 
of mountains. 



No. 46.) 

139. In what forms do mountains appear 1 

In Groups, Chains, and in Solitary Peaks. 



140. What is a Mountain-Group ? 

A number of mountains clustered together in a 
limited tract of country. 

141. What is a Mountain-Chain ? 

A long line of mountains stretching across a 
tract of country. 



MOUNTAINS. 



21 



Cause of Mount- 
ains. 



142. Average height of some of the great chains. 
About Three miles above the level of the Sea. 

143. What is the height of the loftiest peaks 1 

About Five and a half miles; the loftiest mount- 
ain on the Globe is Mount Everest of the Him- 
alayas, 29,002 feet in elevation. 

144. What produced Mountains'? 

"When the force which upraised 
the lands from beneath the waters, 
acted with very great power at any 
given spot, the crust of the Earth 
was broken up at that spot, and the upheaved mat- 
ter made a mountain. 

145. How were mountain-chains formed ?• 

When the force broke through a long line contin- 
uously, a mountain-chain was formed. 

146. How does it appear that mountains were pro- 
duced thus 1 

Because the land on all sides of a mountain 
gradually rises to its base, as if raised by the same 
force that formed the mountain. 

147. But Secondly. 

From the base-line upwards, mountains are gen- 
erally very steep and precipitous, as if crowded up 
through the strata beneath, by a sudden and vio- 
lent upheaval. 

148. And Thirdly. 

The rock at the top of the tallest mountains is 
of the same sort as that found deep in the Earth, 
showing that it came from the depths of the Earth. 

149. Why do mountains exist 1 
First, mountains give birth to 

rivers, and nourish them so that- 
they go not dry during the rain- 
less season. 

150. How do mountains do this 1 

The cold air about their summits extorts all the 
moisture from the winds, .and their rocky masses 
shed the rain, so that it all runs off to the lowlands. 



Reasons for the 
existence of moun- 
tains. 



151. Moreover, snow and ice. 

Snow and ice accumulating in mountain-gorges 
in the Winter, continue to melt all Summer, and the 
water runs into the streams. 

152. What advantages result t 

The commerce and manufacturing carried on up- 
on our rivers, can flourish, when otherwise nothing 
could be done. 

153. Second, in respect to the water-sheds.* 
Mountains are to the continental water-sheds 

what the ridgepole is to the roof of a house, be- 
cause they set the waters that fall upon the lands, 
to running into the sea again. 

154. Therefore, they are what 1 

Necessary parts of the great system of drainage 
by which the Earth is kept from becoming a vast 
bog. 

155. Third, in respect to minerals, etc. 
Mountains disclose to us the hiding-places of the 

minerals and metals ; it is hardly possible that we 
should be able to find those indispensable elements 
in great variety or abundance, if there were no 
mountains. 

156. Fourth, in respect to plants and animals. 
Mountains furnish suitable habitats! for a great 

variety of plants and animals within a narrow range 
of country, so that its people have greater wealth 
and more numerous comforts. 

157. Fifth, mountains fertilize the plains. 

Mountains are continually wasting and crum- 
bling under atmospheric influence ; the pulverized 
materials are carried down by torrents, and spread 
over the surface of the lowlands, and thus their fer- 
tility is kept up. So that mountains are vast com- 
post-heaps scattered over the Earth to keep it from 
running out ! 

158. Mont Blanc alone. 

Has been calculated to yield yearly 80,000 tons 
of rock-matter, which is spread over the subjacent 



* Water-shed, a slope of land down which waterB may run. 
f Habitats, homes, suitable conditions for living. 



22 



HILLS. 



valleys and plains. Egypt owes her exhaustless 
fertility to the dust of the interior mountains. 

159. Thus mountains perish. 

Even as living things, even as the moth and the 
worm ! " Their flowing fountains wear out the 
mountain-heart, even as the crimson pulse wears 
out the heart of man !" 

160. Lastly, mountains as respects man's culture. 
Mountains are the alphabet through which God 

has most clearly written the awful majesty of his 
power ; so that they fill the soul with sublime emo- 
tions and contemplations, and lift it, as their gleam- 
ing spires are lifted, toward heaven. 




HILLS. 



161. The cause of hills. 



General view of 
hill?. 



In part the hills were upheaved 
by the same force that upheaved 
the mountains ; and in part they 
have been formed by running wa- 
ters, that have gullied out the valleys and ravines 
between them. 

1 62 Of what use are hills 1 

They carry out to more important, because more 
universal, results, the same offices that are per- 
formed by mountains. 

163. First, water-supply. 

Slowly dispensing the water that falls upon them, 
and that penetrates into their mass, they supply the 
deep springs. 

164. Also, brooks, etc. 

They feed innumerable brooklets and streams that 
trickle through the pasture and field, watering them 
abundantly. 

165- Second, drainage. 

As mountains set the waters to running off from 
great continents, so hills cause it to run off from 
each little tract of country ; so that on a smaller 
scale, but still more universally, hills help drain the 
Earth. 

166 Third, various plants. 

Various plants grow upon them that will not 
flourish upon the lowlands, so that living creatures 
can have a more various diet, 

167. Lastly, objects of beauty. 

They are objects of exceeding beauty, and as 
such contribute to the happiness and culture of man 
as an emotional and intellectual being. 

168. Hills and mountains as respects man's condition. 
Both hills and mountains make 

man's condition harder in various I Influencc of hill8 

m nrl ^q an ^ mountains up- 

mwucft. onman's condition. 



-Ltoare-awooTT.— 

AKCHED KOCK, MACKINAC. 



169. First, locomotion. 

They render it more difficult to travel about from 



WATP W*l- THE UISTH1BUTI©H' ©S MESEMTSTC1LCAIM 



Explanation 
J)oU-k s7uUZirig denotes F,-iif,Iity\ 

Lit/lit do do TnferiJMef i 

Dotted' do do Deserts L 




KajLSLe of Oceanic Stu'iace-temperatuJ 

V ! ■: 



on., also o gaAgi q jog^ro ^ iaw es >m> ©cjeah^temfkmattdmie 



JSoteJigura, Tmderaiored.thus 79" denote the Oceanstempcrcuturc for that region,. 
T. tides - Rojitetn rutmerate, tour ofhigh tide. 




" 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF MOUNTAINS. 



^3 



one part of the land to another, and compel man 
to build expensive and devious roads to avoid or 
surmount their own enormous bulks. 

170. Secondly, agriculture. 

They make it much more difficult for him to sub- 
due and cultivate the lands ; the work upon a hilly 
farm is twofold harder than upon a level one. 

171. Thirdly, drainage. 

The water running off from the hills, leaves them 
too dry, and gathering at their bases, renders the 
land too wet ; thus the damage is twofold. 

172. Fourthly, deserts. 

Lofty mountain-chains extort all the vapor from 
the sea-winds, so that it falls upon the seaivard side, 
and leaves the land a desert on the other side. 

173. Example. 

The mountains on the western coast of the Unit- 
ed States cause the Great American Desert, cut- 
ting off the rain-winds of the Pacific Ocean from it. 

174. Yet if the land were level ? 

We should be vastly worse off; for then the wa- 
ters would not run off, and bogs would form every- 
where, breeding pestilence and death. 

175. "What of hills and mountains, then 1 

They are indispensable parts of the system of 
the World, and in all their features they illustrate 
the benevolence of God, and the care he has taken 
to make the Earth just fit for its inhabitants. 

176. What of the seeming harm they do us 1 

In part it may be avoided or conquered, and in 
part must be borne ; and in either case it contributes 
to our discipline and improvement. 

177. How so 1 

If we conquer the labors and difficulties, we gain 
a victory, and if we cannot conquer them, our pa- 



tience and endurance are cultivated and strength- 
ened. 



See Map 2, page 



43. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF MOUNTAINS. 

178. The two Great Mountain-Systems. 

There are only two Mountain- 
Systems on the Globe, extensive 
enough to be regarded as Univer- 
sal, or in other words, as pertain- 
ing to the whole Earth ; all other mountain-systems 
are comparatively limited and local. 

179. The two Systems are. 

First, The Rocky-Mountain and Andean Sys- 
tem of the Western Continent ; and second, Tnn 
Euhope-Asian System that bisects the vast conti- 
nental triangle of Europe Asia. 

180- The Rocky-Mountain and Andean System. 

Extends North and South from the Arctic nearly 
to the Antarctic Ocean, through every variety of 
climate, — contains the most tremendous volcanoes, 
and the richest gold and silver mines on the Globe. 

181. Offsets therefrom. 

The Appalachian Mountains in North America, 
and the Brazilian Mountains in South America, 
are simply offsets from this great mountain-spine. 

182. The Europe-Asian System. 

Runs Northeast and Southwest, forms a triangle 
whose vertex is in Spain, and whose base stretches 
along the Pacific Ocean from 20° to 60° North Lat- 
itude ; it is confined chief!}' to the North-Temperate 
Zone, and contains the loftiest summits on the Earth. 

183. Transverse ranges. 

Ranges of mountains transverse to this great 
Central System; the Ural and Scandinavian on the 
North ; the Mountains of Farther India, of Hin- 
doostan, of Arabia, of Greece, and Italy, on the 
South — may be regarded as continental offsets or 
spurs from the Central System, 



24 



VOLCANOES. 



THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 



CHAPTER V 



Volcanoes. Distribution of Volcanoes. Islands. Distribution of Islands. 



General view of 
volcanoes. 



VOLCANOES. 

184. Whole number of volcanoes. 
About 424 in all. 

185. In what various states 1 
Some are perpetually active, 

some are intermittent, and others are extinct. 

186- Number of active volcanoes. 
About 290. 

187. What are the phenomena of a volcanic eruption'! 

Moanings and roarings deep in the ground, rum- 
blings and terrible shakings of the neighboring 
country ; clouds of smoke intermingled with blazes 
of fire, and bursts of blue and purple flame; red- 
hot stones hurled aloft for miles from the funnel of 
the volcano; rivers of lava flowing from the crater, 
with dense volumes of steam and poisonous gases; 
showers of ashes descending with the 'rain of the 
condensing steam, and forming seas of mud. 

188. What is lava 1 ? 

Melted earth, rocks, and minerals ; it comes forth 
white-hot, at times. 

189. How far does it sometimes run, and in how great 
volumes 1 

Sometimes fifty miles, in a river five or ten miles 
wide, and from one-hundred to six-hundred feet in 
depth. 

190. What do volcanoes thus occasion % 

The destruction of great numbers of living things, 
and of an immense amount of property. ■ 

191. Why do volcanoes exist 1 
Because they lessen the frequen 

cy and the fury of earthquakes. 



Why volcanoes 
exist. 



192. How so 1 

They serve as vents or discharge-pipes for the 
lava, steam, and gases in the hot interior of the 
Earth. 

193. Earthquakes, how produced 1 

When the steam and gases are confined, they 
rend and shake the solid crust of the Globe, caus- 
ing what are called earthquakes. 

194. Are earthquakes destructive! 

Much more so than volcanoes. They give no 
fore-warning, no place or time for escape ; they 
shake the breadth of a whole Hemisphere at once, 
and overwhelm hundreds of villages and cities with 
their thousands of inhabitants, in sudden and indis- 
criminate ruin. 

195. So that what appears 1 

That volcanoes save vastly more than they de- 
stroy, and that satisfactory reasons for their exist- 
ence may therefore be urged. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF VOLCANOES. 

196. Arrangement of volcanoes. 

Volcanoes are arranged in two classes or sys- 
tems, the Central and the Linear. A Central 
System embraces a cluster of volcanic mountains 
grouped together in a limited area ; as Iceland and 
the Sandwich Islands for examples. 

197. Eruptions of Central Systems. 

Central Systems in general are noted for the fre- 
quency and violence of their eruptions ; character- 
istics probably owing to the fact that they are vents 
for enormous areas ; they being far removed from 
other volcanoes. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF VOLCANOES. 



ISLANDS. 



25 



198. - The Grand Linear System. 

Beginning "with the burning mountains of Terra- 
del-Fuego, it follows the Ancles Northward through 
the volcanoes, Arequipa, Aconcagua, Cotopaxi, and 
Antisana; Coseguina, in Guatemala; Tuxtla, Ori- 
zaba, Popocatapetl, Jorullo, and Colirna, in Mexico. 

199. Thence Northward. 

Volcanoes re-appear in Russian America, and in 
Alaska, where volcanic cones of vast height have 
been seen in eruption. From Alaska, the system 
bends due West, and follows the Fox or Aleutian 
Isles to Kamschatka, upon which peninsula numer- 
ous active volcanoes exist. 

200. Thence Southward. 

The system follows the coast of Asia, through 
the Kurile, Japan, Formosan, and Philippine Isl- 
ands to the Moluccas : it here divides, sends off a 
branch to the 8. E., through various islands, while 
the main line turns Westward to Java and Sumba- 



201. Java and Snmbawa. 

Are nothing but vast crowded clusters of volca- 
noes ; 38 are grouped together at one end of Java, 
and their roarings may be heard far out at sea, day 
and night, ceaseless as the thunder of Niagara. 



202 



From Java. 



The line bends N. W., and passes along the vol- 
canic mountains of Sumatra, and thence through 
the small volcanic islands on the N. W., into the 
Bay of Bengal. 

203. From this point it passes. 

Through Southern and Central Asia, and ap- 
pears in the Mediterranean Sea, which contains the 
island of Santorin in the Grecian Archipelago, 
composed of volcanic debris, and agitated by 
continual commotions ; the Ionian Islands, shaken 
by perpetual earthquakes ; and Vesuvius in Italy, 
and Etna in Sicily, the most celebrated though not 
the mightiest volcanoes on the Globe. 



204. From the Mediterranean. 

The line passes to and terminates in the volcanic 
clusters of islands on the West of Africa. 

205. How this system represents the Earth. 

This Linear System represents the crust of the 
Earth as broken or rent by a vast fissure, like a long, 
irregular crack in a glass globe. 



Questions upon the Volcano-Map. 

NO. 1, PAGE 25. 

Where is the point of origin of the Great Linear Volcanic 
System ? 

Any volcanoes in Terra-del-Fuego 1 

Any in South America 1 Where 1 Name some of the larg- 
est. 

Any volcanoes in North America 1 Where 1 Name some 
of them. 

Whereabouts upon Asia does the volcanic line appear 1 

Thence whither does it lead ? Volcanoes in Japan t 

Where does the line branch 1 What remote points does 
the Southeast branch touch! 

Trace the course of the Southwest branch. Any volca- 
noes in Central Asia 1 

In the Mediterranean Sea 1 Where does the line termin- 
ate'? 

How many central systems can you count upon the Map % 



General view of 
islands. 



ISLANDS. 

206. What is an Island ? 

(See Geographical Definitions, 
No. 38.) 

207. What of the sizes of Islands ! 

They are of every size, from Australia, with its 
3,000,000 square miles, to Rockall, in the North At- 
lantic, six rods across.* 

208. What of their arrangement ? 

They are found in Clusters, Chains, and Soli- 
tary. 



* Rockall is a granite block elevated above the surface of the sea, about 
300 miles West of Scotland. 



26 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF ISLANDS. 



What islands 
really are. 



209. What are islands in reality 1 

They are the tops of mount- 
ains and table-lands, whose bases 
are under water. 

210. The cluster of islands 1 

The tops of a Group of mountains whose bases 
are under water. 

211. What is a Chain of islands ? 

The tops of a Chain of mountains whose bases 
are submarine. 

212. What is the Solitary island 1 

The top of a solitary mountain, whose lower por- 
tion is beneath the waters. 

213. What is the broad, flat island % 

The top of a broad, flat plateau, the surface of 
which is above the water, but whose slopes are sub- 
merged. 

214. Why thus particularize the different classes 1 

To bring out the fact clearly that islands are sim- 
ply the result of the ordinary unevenuess of the 
Earth's surface, and that the law which makes a 
mountain on the land, makes an island in the sea. 

215. Are islands important 1 

They are -exceedingly important 
in various respects, not so much 
from their size, as their position. 

216. For example. 

St. Helena in the middle of the South Atlantic 
is an indispensable watering-and-refreshment place 
for vessels bound round the Cape of Good Hope. 

217. The Sandwich Islands. 

The Sandwich Islands furnish indispensable sup- 
plies of food and water to the whalemen of the 
North Pacific. 

218. The Falkland Islands. 

The Falkland Islands furnish harbors to vessels 
shattered hy the passage of Cape Horn. 

219. In ancient times. 

Islands formed stepping-stones from land to land, 
so that man gradually gained courage to attempt 



Importance of 
islands. 



the vast ocean. Hence islands have helped edu- 
cate man ! 

220. Homes for fish. 

Islands sloping oft" gradually into the sea furnish 
feeding-places to multitudes of fish that can live on- 
ly in shallow waters. Hence archipelagoes are the 
best fishing-grounds in the world. 

221. Lastly, volcanoes. 

Two-thirds of the volcanoes on the Globe are sit- 
uated on islands ; thus their ravages are compara- 
tively harmless. 

222. Whereas if there were no islands 1 

Then these volcanoes must either be on the main- 
land, or else belch out their fires at the bottom of 
the sea. 

223. In either case. 

Vastly more destruction would result to living 
things than now. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OP ISLANDS. 

224. Total area of island-surface. 

The superficial area of all the islands upon the 
Globe is not far from 7,500,000 square miles. Fif- 
teen of the larger islands and island-clusters have 
together an area of 5,500,000 square miles. 

225. A remarkahle circumstance. 

That the area of the islands in the ocean is about- 
equal to that of the lakes and inland seas on the 
continents. 

226. Island-systems of the Western Continent. 

Three island-systems appertain to the Western 
Continent; viz., The West-India Group; The 
Chain around the South or South America ; and 
the* Chain. on the Northwest of North America. 

227. The West-India Group. 

Seem to be out-croppings of a submarine plateau 
of high elevation, for the waters in their vicinity 
are shallow ; it is conjectured that this plateau once 
formed a part of the continent, and that it has been 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF ISLANDS. 



27 



lowered by volcanic or worn away by oceanic ac- 
tion. 

228. In point of importance. 

The West Indies yield to no other islands on the 
Earth. Their aggregate area is 93,000 square 
miles, their geographic position favorable, their cli- 
mate delightful, their soil exceedingly fertile, and 
their vegetable productions unexcelled in richness 
and variety. 

229. The Chain around Patagonia. 

Are simply the tops of the Andes continued un- 
der water, hence their wild, desert, frowning, and 
precipitous character. 

230. The Chain on the Northwest of North America. 

Are likewise the summits of a mountain-range 
running under water, parallel or continuous with 
the coast-mountains. 

231. Greenland and Iceland. 

Together form an area of 886,000 square miles 
of island-surface, which is but little else than a 
frightful desert of mountains, glaciers, snow, ice, and 
volcanoes ; of very little account as respects the 
habitable uses of the Earth. 

232. The Islands of the Eistem Continent. 

May be grouped into three systems, European 
Islands, Islands or the Indian Ocean, and the 
Great Oriental Archipelago. 

233. The Archipelago on the Northwest of Europe. 

Known as the British Isles, is simply a continu- 
ation of the ordinary surface-formation that char- 
acterizes the adjoining continent; indeed, the chan- 
nels that separate them from each other and from 
the mainland are shallow, showing that they once 
might have all been compacted together, and been 
continuous with the continent. 

234. Features of the British Isles. 

Aggregate area, 120,000 square miles; a soil 
naturally of moderate fertility, a climate drenched 
with rains and damp with humid winds ; yet the 
enterprise of its people has made this little archi- 



pelago the seat of the most powerful empire on 
the Earth. 

235. The eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. 

In the vicinity of Greece is filled with numerous 
islands, continuations of the southerly offsets from 
the Balkan Mountains, re-appearing as islands in 
the sea. 

236. Western Mediterranean. 

Also contains several islands and island-groups, 
probably the summits of submarine Alps, continu- 
ous with those on the continent. 

237. Of the Indian-Ocean Islands. 

The principal are Madagascar and Ceylon, whose 
areas combined are 264,000 square miles, which in 
favorableness of location, in agreeableness of cli- 
mate, in fertility of soil, in variety of vegetable and 
mineral resources, are among the most favored re- 
gions of the Earth. 

238. The Great Oriental Archipelago. 
Comprehends the almost innumerable islands, 

large and small, which stud the Pacific Ocean on 
the East and Southeast of Asia ; probably four- 
fifths of the island-surface of the Earth, or 6,000,- 
000 square miles. 

239. To account for this archipelago. 

It is only necessary to suppose the remarkable 
unevenness of surface which characterizes Asia to 
be continued on the bed of the Pacific, and numer- 
ous islands are an inevitable result. 

240. The Chief Islands of the Oriental Archipelago. 

Are Australia, Sumatra, Celebes, Papua, Tas- 
mania, Java, the Japan Islands, and Neio Zea- 
land. 

241. Characteristic features. 

The islands of the Oriental Archipelago have had 
the treasures of nature lavished upon them. The 
climate of most of them is perpetual Spring ; their 
soil for the most part is spontaneously and exuber- 
antly productive ; all that is rich, rare, and beauti- 
ful in vegetation flourishes there ; their mountains 
are full of precious metals and gems ; their river- 



28 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF ISLANDS. 



beds are dusted with flakes of gold ; their sea-sands 
teem with pearls. 

242. A portion of this archipelago. 

2,400,000 square miles in area, including the Dan- 
gerous and Society Archipelagoes, is gradually sub- 
siding into the depths of the sea. 

243. Another area Westward of the foregoing. 
Including the New Hebrides, Solomon, and New 

Ireland, is rising to greater elevations ; still anoth- 
er area of subsidence is met further to the West, 
including New Caledonia and the Great Coral-Reef 
of Australia. 

244. How these facts are known. 

The fact of elevation and depression in the sea- 
bed is known from the fact that coral is found in 
high cliffs far above the sea, and also at immense 
depths in the waters ; but since the coral insect 
cannot exist out of water, or at a greater depth 



than 30 fathoms, it follows that in one case the cor- 
al must have been raised and in the other depressed 
by volcanic forces. 



Questions upon the Map of the Continents. 

NO. 2, PAGE 43. 

Dimensions of Australia"! Greatest Elevation'? 

Coast-line f 

What occupies its interior 7 General height of its mount- 
ains 1 

What striking natural feature on its northeast coast % 

What is the area of Papua ~> Of Java 1 Of Sumatra 1 

Height of its mountains 1 Area of Borneo % Height of 
its mountains 1 

Area of Celebes 1 Of the Philippines 1 Of the Japan 
Islands 1 

Area of the British Isles "i Of Iceland 1 Of Madagas- 
car ■? 

Of Ceylon 1 Of the West Indies 1 Of Greenland 1 Of 
New Zealand 1 



SB^ 




: ___ 



DESERTS. 



29 




Jftga =. 
- -r „■--.- - 



THE WATER SEEKER. 



CHAPTER VI 



Deserts. Distribution of Deserts. Soil. The Distribution of Fertility. 



DESERTS. 

245. What are deserts 1 

Such portions of the Earth's lancl- 

Dpfinitionofdes- 

surface as are for the most part, ens. 

loaste and unadtivable. Fertile 

spots on a prevailing desert-surface are called Oases. 

246. Are any deserts entirely waste 1 

Few, if any ; ferns, mosses, some coarse grasses, 
and berry-bearing shrubs grow in the cold deserts ; 
cactuses, brambles, tamarisks, and acacias in the hot 
and dry deserts. 

247. Are any deserts utterly uncultivable ? 

None, excepting, perhaps, those in the vicinity of 



the Poles, where cold and darkness so prevail as to 
forbid any attempt at cultivation. 

248. How deserts differ from other lands. 

From what has been said, it appears that deserts 
differ from other lands only in their inferior improv- 
ability and their inferior natural productiveness. 

249. Deserts classified. 

Deserts are divided into classes 
according- to their characteristics. 
and the causes which produce them. 

250. The cold deserts. 

Include all the waste regions in the neighborhood 
of the Poles, and those elevated upon lofty mount- 



Classification 
and Causation 
of deserts. 



30 



DESERTS. 



ains ; these are rendered desert by the extreme rig- 
or of the cold. 

251. More particularly in the Frigid Zones. 

The Winter is long, and terrible with darkness 
that deadens and cold that palsies everything ; the 
snows drink up the Spring-heats in their melting, 
and the oceans choked with ice chill the winds. 

252. The Summer indeed. 

Is vehemently hot, and the days are all day 
lo)ig, but frosts come in " Dog-days," snows fall a 
month before the " Harvest moon," and so nothing- 
has time to grow for the sustenance of man. 

253. Tracts upon lofty mountains. 

Are lifted far above the warm surface of the 
Earth into eternal cold, where frost, and tempest, 
and endless drought prevail, and therefore they are 
desert. 

254. The Second Class of deserts. 

Are produced by the cutting-off of rains by 
mountains intervening betwixt them and the ocean. 

255. In South America. 

Along the western slopes of the Andes in low 
latitudes, exceedingly dry deserts are produced by 
the cutting-off of rains from them by the Andes.* 

256. In the western United States. 

The Great American Desert is due to the ob- 
struction of the Pacific's rain-bearing winds by the 
Rooky Mountains. 

257. The Third Class of deserts. 

Are found upon plateaus ; for example, the des- 
erts of Central Asia, and the deserts of the Great 
North-American Plateau. 

258. The chief causes of these deserts. 

Are two : 1st, they are elevated into the region of 
prevailing cold ; and 2nd, the rains fail to reach their 
lofty interiors, and therefore they are very dry. 

259. Lastly, their surface-soil. 

Has an influence in causing and maintaining the 
infertility of nearly all deserts. 

* See Map of the Distribution of Rains. 



260. Mountains, for example. 

Have very little soil upon them by reason of the 
washing of rains, and hence mountain-regions are 
almost of necessity desert. 

261. A law of vegetation. 

Plants cannot flourish upon one sort of soil ; 
they need variety of food just as animals and men 
need it, and without it languish and die. 

262. Accordingly. 

Tracts deficient in variety of soils will not bear 
anything of importance, and hence are deserts. 

263- Sandy deserts. 

Are both the largest, the most completely infertile 
and the most terrible in their aspect of desolation. 

264. Why larger 1 

The physical cause why they are larger than any 
other class of deserts, is the fact that sand, i. e., 
rook broken into fine grains but not thoroughly 
powdered, is the most abundant kind of soil. 

265. Added to the fact. 

That sands are carried by the winds, and thus 
sandy deserts nearly always encroach upon the bor- 
dering country, unless hemmed in by mountains or 
by seas. 

2(56. Their excessive barrenness. 

Is due first and not unfrequently to their not pos- 
sessing sufficient variety of elements to be good 
food for plants. 

267 But secondly, rains. 

When rains fall upon sands, they quickly filter 
down through them beyond the reach of most plants, 
and hence only a few tough and deep-rooted plants 
can live in them. 

268. Thirdly, scanty rain. 

Sands reflect the sun-heat vehemently, so that 
whatever vapor exists in the air is not precipitated 
because of the heat. 

269. This last principle. 

Explains the fact that tropical sandy deserts are 
the largest and most desolate by reason of the fierce 
heat. 



DESERTS. 



31 



Light, etc. 
their bearing 
on deserts. 


in 
up- 



270. The influence of soils, how great 1 

The influence of soils in produc- 
ing deserts is comparatively small; 
for there is no kind of soil but if 
furnished with abundant light, heat, 
and moi°!ure, will bear more or less abundant har- 
vests. 

271. The sands of the Great American Desert. 

In the western United States, contain all the es- 
sentials of fertility as abundantly as the soil of the 
Mississippi Valley ; but the want of moisture makes 
them desert. 

272. The soil of Greenland. 

May be and probably is good, but heat is want- 
ing, and therefore harvests will not grow. 

273. The sands of the Sahara Desert. 

If transported to England, would soon, under 
the influence of rains, and dew, and humid winds, 
bear food for man more or less abundantly. 

274. A grand question. 

How could a benevolent G-od suf- 
fer such dreadful wastes to deform 
the aspect of the World, and there- 
by seemingly oppress mankind with 
over-heavy burdens? 

275. First answer. 

Nobody is compelled to live in deserts, for the 
World has abundance of fertile country not occu- 
pied ; therefore nobody can complain of deserts, or 
charge God with cruelty on their account. 

276. For example. 

Nobody compels the Esquimaux to live in Green- 
land, or the Bedouin to live in the Sahara ; and if 
their life is hard, it is the fruit of their own choos- 
ing. 

277. Second answer, no loss. 

In spite of the deserts, we get about as much 
produce; because the rain that refuses to water 
them, waters more profusely the bordering country, 
so that it bears larger harvests. 



Vindication of 
the existence of 
deserts. 



278. In illustration. 

The rains do not water the Sahara Desert, but 
falling upon the mountain-slopes South thereof, 
make them magnificently fertile. 

279. Third answer, reclaim the deserts. 

If men are ever hard pressed for room by rea- 
son of the deserts, they can reclaim the-deserts. In 
Peru, Egypt, Nubia, and India, food for nations is 
raised upon land recovered from deserts. 

280. The practical result. 

The World's resources might easily be quadru- 
pled if man would thus turn them to account, and 
this he not only may do, but he must do, or fail in 
duty. 

281. Fourthly, deserts rear what 1 

Deserts rear tough, laborious, spirited, liberty- 
loving men ; the blood, bone, and sinew of desert- 
races have kept humanity from running out. 

282. Some desert-races, indeed. 

Have suffered themselves to be overcome by the 
hardness of their country, and have sunk into gross 
barbarism. But these have abused the terms of 
their probation, and are alone to blame. 

283. Fifth answer, breathing-places. 

Many deserts serve as breathing-places to the 
populous empires on their borders. Desert-winds 
are exceedingly pure, and are potent to remove dis- 
ease. 

284. To illustrate. 

The Plague never rages along the valley of the 
Nile so long as the Sahara's winds blow across it. 
The same winds penetrating the fertile country on 
the South of the Desert, put to flight the legion of 
jungle-fevers and liver-complaints that there pre- 
vail at other seasons. 

285. Sixth answer, not easily prevented. 

In the present order of things, God could not 
prevent the existence of deserts without a perpetu- 
al miracle ; but such an outlay of power never 
would pay for itself, and he never wastes materials 
or power. 



32 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF DESERTS. 



286. Tropical deserts for example. 

There are some tropical deserts upon which it 
does not seem that sufficient moisture could fall, 
unless by some mighty miracle, for there are no visi- 
ble natural means of getting enough water to them. 

287. Also the Polar regions. 

How could the Polar regions receive sufficient 
light and heat to make them fertile, unless by a 
miracle not less amazing than if another sun were 
set to shine upon them ? 

288. And therefore, finally. 

God has done the best he could under the cir- 
cumstances, has made as much of the Earth as fer- 
tile as he could,, without violating his established 
laws of acting. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF DESERTS. 

289. Area of the deserts. 

At the least possible calculation, and without 
reckoning in the smaller desert-areas, the sum total 
of terrestrial deserts cannot fall short of 11,700,- 
000 square miles ; over one-fifth of the entire land- 
surface of the Earth ! 

290. The Deserts of the Western Continent. 

Embrace the wastes of Patagonia at one ex- 
treme, of Greenland, Labrador, northern British 
America, and Russian America at the other- a 
combined area of at least 2,500,000 square miles, 
the rigor of whose climate forbids agriculture or 
any considerable development of vegetable life. 

291. In addition to these deserts. 

Vast tracts of utter sterility lie along the west- 
ern slopes of the Andes, and on both sides of the 
Eocky Mountains, the aggregate of whose area 
' annot be less than 500,000 square miles at the 
correct estimate. 

292. Sum total. 

Sum total of deserts for the Western Continent, 
3,000,000 square miles. The "Western Continent is 
eminently fertile, or at least, cultivable. 



293. The Eastern Continent. 

Contains at least 8,700,000 s'quare miles of land, 
upon which little will grow for the sustenance of 
man or beast. This is the continent of infertility. 

294. Siberia. 

Contains 2,000,000 square miles of waste land ; 
one-third sterile tracts of gravel crusted here and 
there with salt; one-third marshy moorlands, or 
Tundra, covered with moss, and frozen all the year 
round, save at the very surface, in Summer; and 
one-third cold and craggy mountain-wildernesses. 

295. The Great Belt of Sandy Deserts. 

Embraces the Sahara, of Africa, 2,700,000 square 
miles; the Deserts of Arabia, 500,000 square miles; 
and of Central Asia from the Caspian Sea to the 
Pacific Ocean, 1,500,000 square miles. Total, with 
the before-mentioned, 6,700,000 miles. 

296. To the above must be added. 

Perhaps 750,000 square miles in Australia ; 
1,000,000 square miles in Southern Africa, and the 
Great Indian Desert of Hindoostan. Sum total, 
8,700,000 square miles. 

297. But in addition to the foregoing. 

Immense waste tracts lie scattered among the 
mountains of this Continent, of which no account 
is here made, because so little is known of them. 
Hence the sum total above given is really beloiv t'he 
truth. 



Questions upon the Desert-Map. 

NO. 1, PAGE 25. 

Are there any deserts in North America'! Where'? How 
indicated 1 

What sort of deserts are those in the extreme North 1 
Their area 1 

What parts of North America are barren and infertile, 
though not desert 1 

What part of North America is fertile 1 How is it indica- 
ted on the Map t Areas of the Barren and Fertile portions 
respectively 1 

Is South America light-shaded or dark-shaded 1 Why'! 

Is any part of South America barren and infertile 1 Any 
desert 1 



SOIL. 



33 



What part of it is exceedingly fertile 1 Area of the Fer- 
tile, Barren, and Desert, respectively 1 
How is Europe shaded 1 Why ? 

Is any part of it desert 1 How in the extreme North 1 
Is any part barren 1 Is England fertile 1 
How is Asia shaded, light or dark 1 Why 1 
Whereabouts is the dark shading 1 
Is the centre of Asia fertile 1 How then 1 
Is any part of Asia infertile 1 

What of the northern part 1 What makes it desert 1 
Area of the northern deserts 1 Of the Oases I 
Area of the infertile portion South of the northern des- 
erts 1 

Area of the central deserts 1 Of the Oases '? 
Area of the fertile regions on the South 1 
Has Africa any fertile land 1 Where ? Its area 1 
Any deserts in Africa 1 Where 1 Combined areas 1 
Where is Africa most fertile 1 Area of the Oases of South 
Africa t 

Has Australia any fertility 1 Any deserts 1 Their area 1 
Does the want of heat or of rain make Australia so large- 
ly desert 1 



Importance of 
the fact of soil. 



SOIL. 

298. The fact of soil. 
Is perhaps the most important 

fact in the Earth's physical geogra- 
phy ; first, because soil is universal ; 
and second, because all living things depend upon 
it for existence. 

299. Soil is universal. 

For the broad backs of the continents, and the 

lowest level of the ocean-bed, are clad with it as 

.with a garment; so universal, indeed, is it, as 

under the name of earth to have given its name to 

our Globe. 

300. The only exceptions to its universality. 

Are ledges here and there, a few mountain-tops, 
and iron-bound sea-shores; and these are excep- 
tions because soil is so nearly universal. 

301. The bed of the sea. 

Is spread with soil even to the lowest depths as 
copiously as the surface of the lands; and the 
sounding-lead rarely fails to bring up soil with it 
from whatever depth it may reach. 



302. All living things. 

Depend upon soil for existence, for without soil 
there could be no plants, and without plants no an- 
imals, and thus the Earth would be a hideous un- 
peopled desolation. 

303. What is meant by soil 1 

All the various kinds of sand, 
clay, loam, marl, earth, or dirt with 
which the Globe is covered. 



Definition anil 
constitution of 
soil. 



The forces that 
have made the 
soil. 



304. What was all soil made of? 

Of rocks broken up and ground down to pow- 
der ; so that all soil is pulverized stone. 

305. Even those elements of soil. 

Derived from decaying animal and vegetable sub- 
stances, originally came from the powdered rocks. 

306. What reduced the rocks to soil 1 
First, earthquakes, which before 

man was created were more fre- 
quent and terrible than now, broke 
the great rocks, and cracked them 
down to boulders and pebbles. 

307. The currents and tides of the ocean. 

During those long periods in which the different 
parts of the Globe were all under water, wore 
away and crumbled the larger rocks to gravel and 
sand. 

308. The rains. 

Have helped make soil ; rain-drops are like mil- 
lions of little hammers that pound the soil to finer 
grains. 

309. All running streams. 

The brook that cascades from the mountains, and 
the majestic river that drains a continent, both wear 
away the rocks to dust ; so the idle rivulet works 
as hard as the prison-convict at pulverizing stone 

310. Seat and cold. 

Help make soil. In the Polar Zones mountains 
split and huge boulders burst with the cold. Ledg- 
es heating in the sunshine, crack and seam, and grad- 
ually crumble away. 



34 



SOIL. 



Outlay of pow- 
er and time in 
making soil. 



311. The atmosphere. 

Eats into or corrodes the rocks, so that they 
moulder and rust away to dust. How soon the 
bright, fresh face of the new-split stone grows 
somber and gray, because the air eats away its sub- 
stance and its fresh beauty ! 

312. Little plants. 

Lichens and mosses penetrate the rocks with 
fine roots, and break off atoms from them. Like- 
wise when the plants die, they rot the stone beneath 
them, and thus dig graves for themselves, and make 
soil at the same time. 

313. Lastly. 

Earth-worms eat soil, and grind it in their stom- 
achs to finer dust. Nearly all of our best soil has 
been prepared in these little living grist-mills. 

314. Enormous power. 

Has been outlaid in making soil. 
To crush one cubic inch of stone of 
average hardness requires a power 
that would lift twenty tons. 

315. Ten thousands of years. 

Have been consumed in making soil ; for earth- 
quakes, and running waters, and rains, and heat 
and cold, etc., were making soil long before man 
was created. 

316. Soil is making still. 

Every earthquake- and earthworm, every drop 
of rain, every ocean-current, and river, and moss- 
speck on the Earth, helps make more soil. 

317. So that soil teaches. 

Together with God's spoken revelation, that 
there shall be a " New Earth," for the new Earth 
is continually preparing beneath our feet. 

318. Soils have been maHejust right. 
For first, every plant whose leaves 

tremble in the breezes of the World, 
testifies by its greenness, and luxuri- 
ance, and health, that it finds the 
soils just right. 



The fitness of 
soils. 



319. A panful of ashes. 

Containing perhaps a million grains, was every 
atom of it taken from the soil by plants, and the 
plants could not have lived without it. 

320. So that every panful of ashes. 

Shows that plants find in soils just what they 
want to eat, and in just the form they want it. 

321. Soils are adapted to water. 

They suffer the water to penetrate them so as to 
feed the deep springs; at the same time they hold 
considerable of it near the surface where plants can 
get it. 

322. When the water dries off from the surface. 

The soils draw the water from the deep ground 
up to the surface, in order that the roots of plants 
may reach it. So that in a dry time, every acre of 
ground has a million little suction-pumps working 
in it! 

323. Soils are adapted to air. 

They suffer the air to penetrate their substance 
so as to fit it to be the food of plants ; and yet they 
are compact enough to resist the power of air-in- 
motion, or wind ; how nice and critical the adapta- 
tion ! 

324. Soils are adapted to plants mechanically. 

Thus they allow the most delicate radicle* to 
pass through them ; likewise the huge root thick 
through as an elephant's thigh, to crowd passage 
through their mass. 

325. But a storm arising. 

They lay so strong a hold upon the roots, that 
the furious blasts of wind can not overturn the tree. 
Thus they yield or resist just as necessity requires, 
and as if they had a reasoning soul ! 

326. Soils are adapted to animals. 

In that all animals so far as made to walk upon 
them at all, ivalk with ease and comfort. An adap- 
tation as perfect and admirable as of light to the 
eye, of water to the taste, or of beauty to the soul 
of man. 

* Radicle — i. e. little root. 



SOIL. 



35 



327. The earthworm. 

And tribes innumerable of grubs, and snails, and 
slugs, and bugs, find sustenance and shelter, bed 
and board, in the ground; so that every spadeful of 
dirt is full of GodVloving kindness. 

328. What has been said of the universality of soil t 
That, as a general statement, the 



whole Globe, continents, islands, why boiub uni- 
versal. 
and ocean-bed, is covered thick 

with soil. 

329. Is it not a waste to have soil so abundant 1 
Certainly not upon the lands, because though not 

all now used, the soils already have been, and may 
sometime again be all used. 

330. Not upon the ocean-bed. 

Because that may sometime come to the light, as 
it has already done in bygone ages, and the soil 
would then be wanted for use.* 

331. Even now used. 

For plants innumerable root in the dirt at the 
bottom of the sea, and that, too, at the depth of 
miles ; and animals not less numerous burrow and 
live and die in it, finding homes, food, and graves 
therein. 

332. Why were any spots left bare of soil f 
Because if rocks nowhere came to the surface, 

we should be greatly troubled to procure hard and 
enduring building-materials in sufficient abundance 
and without extraordinary labor. 

333. The rocks and ledges show what 1 

The rocks and ledges as clearly discover the or- 
dering: hand of a benevolent Providence as does 
the almost universal fact of soil itself. Civilization 
would not be possible without stone ! 

334. Were the soils thoroughly mixed together? 
They were not ; for large tracts 

of sand, or clay, or gravel abound, 
without such intermixture with one 
another as is needed for plants. 

* See Book Second. 



Why imperfect- 
ly mixed. 



335. Why was the work so imperfectly done'? 

First, because with the forces employed, the 
work could not be thoroughly done ; and no more 
force could be put on, because when the work was 
done, nothing would be left for it to do, and so it 
would be waste power. 

336. But second, God's garden 1 

The Earth is God's garden, and he has not yet 
fully made his garden; he has many forces at work 
upon it even now, and therefore we cannot expect 
to find the work already done. 

337. And third, man's probation. 

The soils have been left imperfectly mixed, so that 
man might be constrained to mix them. That im- 
perfect mixing means, and says to man, " By the 
sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread." 

338. Soils need cultivation. 



Soils need culti- 
vation. 



There is no exception ; the finest 
and richest need it. Therefore, . 
herein the soils again say to man, 
" By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread." 

339. What justification would seem to be needed ? 



Vindication of 
the existence of 
soils. 



Justification of the outlay of so 
much power through so much time 
in making soil. Power, material, 
and time are so precious that God 
does not allow even himself to squander any of 
them. 

340 What justification is there 1 ? 

Without soil the Earth would be waste and good 
for nothing, and its creation and preservation would 
be a dead loss of materials and power ; so soil had 
to be made at whatever outlay. 

341. What lesson is read to us by the soils 1 



The lesson of patience. God 
worked and waited, and worked 
and waited, through countless ages, 
till his forces had had time to make the soil, 
man then refuse to work and wait ? 



The lesson of 
the soils. 



Shall 



36 



THE WESTERN CONTINENT. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OP FERTILITY. 

342. The Area of the Deserts. 

We have already learned, is, in round numbers, 
12,000,000 square miles. 

343. The sura total of the fertile lands. 

Is about 30,000,000 square miles ; of which 



10,000,000 fall to the Western Continent with its isl- 
ands, and 20,000,000 to the Eastern with its islands. 

344. Infertile and Barren land. 

Occupies the remaining 12,000,000 square miles; 
4,000,000 of which fall to the Western and the re- 
mainder to the Eastern Continent. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Physico-Descriptire View of the Western Continent. 



THE WESTERN CONTINENT. 

345. What is a Physico-Descriptive View ? 

A view which embraces only Physical or Natu- 
ral features, with the design of setting them forth 
comprehensively, clearly, and in their proper order. 

346. Position of the Western Continent 1 

It lies between 72° 1ST. Lat. and 54° S. Lat, and 
between 35° and 168° W. Lou. 

347. Form of the Western Continent % 

The form of two triangles, whose vertices both 
point South, the vertex of die one touching the 
base of the other. 

348. Dimensions of the Western Continent 1 

8,700 miles in length, 3 250 miles in breadth, 
15,020,000 square miles in area ; least breadth 30 
miles, at the Isthmus of Darien. 

349. Characteristics of the Western Continent. 

First, an enormous length as compared with its 
breadth. 



350. Second. 

The extreme simplicity and the vast continuous 
length of its mountain-chains. 

851. Third. 

The continuousness and unity of its plateau-ele- 
vations. 

352. Fourth. 

The grandeur of its river-systems and lake-sys- 
tems. 

353. Fifth. 

Its exemption from large deserts. 

354. Sixth. 

The general and marked fertility of its soil. 

355. Seventh. 

The humidity of its climate and its heavy rain- 
falls. 

356. The Grand Divisions of the Western Continent. 

The Western Continent is divided by nature into 
two Grand Divisions or Continents, known re- 
spectively as North America and South America. 



NORTH AMERICA. 



37 




A WINTER SCENE IN NORTHERN NORTH AMERICA. 



NORTH AMERICA. 



357. Position of North America'! 



It lies between 72° and 10° N. Lat., and between 
56° and 158° W. Lon. 

358. In what Zone chiefly % 

By far the larger part of North America is in 
the North-Temperate Zone. 

359. Form of North America ") 

The form of an irregular triangle, whose base 
rests on the Arctic Ocean, and whose vertex touch- 
es South America in 10° N. Lat. 



360. Cause of the irregularity of its form, 

Vast indentations of the sea, such as Hudson's 
Bay, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Gulf of Mexico, etc. ; 
together with the large peninsulas Florida and Cali- 
fornia. 

361. Dimensions of North America. 

5,600 miles in length; 3,100 in breadth; 8,600,000 
square miles in area ; 1,690 feet in average eleva- 
tion ; coast-line, 24,500 miles, 1 mile to each 350 
square miles of area. 

362. Characteristics of North America. 

Extensive and fertile plains, long and narrow plat- 



38 



NORTH AMERICA. 



eaus with a desert or infertile surface, magnificent 
rivers and lakes, and a rather excessive climate. 

383. The three divisions of its territory. 
The Atlantic Declivity, The Central Plain, 
and the Pacific Declivity. 

364. The Atlantic Declivity. 

The Atlantic Declivity embraces all the territory 
between the Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian 
Mountains ; characteristics, a moderately fertile soil, 
numerous but not large rivers, frequent indentations 
of the sea, and great facilities for commerce and 
manufacturing. 

365. The Central Plain. 

The Central Plain extends from the Arctic Ocean 
to the G-ulf of Mexico, and from the Appalachian 
to the highlands East of the Rocky Mountains. 

366. Characteristics of the Central Plain. 

General evenness of surface ; a very fertile soil ; 
numerous and large rivers and lakes ; great miner- 
al resources in coal, lead, iron, and copper. 

367. The Pacific Declivity 

The Pacific Declivity embraces all the territory 
West of the Pocky Mountains; characteristics, a 
rugged surface, an infertile soil, scanty rivers, and 
few indentations of the sea. 

368. Mountain-Systems of North America. 

Three : The Rocky Mountains, The Mountains 
op the West Coast, and the Alleghany or Ap- 
palachian Mountains. 

369. The Rocky Mountains. 

The mountain-spine of North America, extend 
from the Arctic Ocean to the Isthmus of Darien, 
about 5,000 miles ; mean elevation in the North, 1 
mile, in the central parts, l£ miles ; through Mexi- 
co they consist of isolated peaks from 1 to 2 miles 
high. 

370. Their characteristics. 

Are abrupt, craggy, naked summits covered 
with snow, desert-valleys intermingled, with large 
and active volcanoes in Mexico. 



371. Highest peaks. 

Their highest peaks are Mount Brown, 16,000 
feet ; and Mount Hooker, 15,700 feet high. 

372. Mountains of the West Coast. 

The Mountains of the West Coast embrace the 
Sierra-Nevada pf California,.and the Cascade-Range 
of Oregon, running from the southern point of the 
peninsula of California to the peninsula of Alaska. 

373. Their loftiest peaks. 

Are Mount Hood, 12,000 feet; Mount Fair- 
weather, 14,750 feet ; and Mount St. Elias, 17,900 
feet in height, the loftiest mountain-summit in North 
America. 

374. The Sierra-Nevada. 

Rise from 7,000 to 8,000 feet ; they lie East of 
the gold region in California. Mean elevation of 
the Cascade- Range, 5,000 to 6,000 feet. 

375 The Alleghany or Appalachian Mountains. 

Run along the eastern side of the continent, from 
34° N. Lat. to the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; 1,500 
miles in length ; from 3,000 to 6,000 feet in height ; 
loftiest peak, the Black Dome in North Carolina, 
6,476 feet, surrounded by eleven other peaks, each 
higher than Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, 
until recently deemed the highest. 

376. The Plateaus and Highlands of North America. 

Consist of the Plateaus of the Rocky Mount- 
ains, the Arctic Highlands, and the Appalachian 
Plateau. 

377. The Plateaus of the Rocky Mountains. 

The plateaus of the Rocky Mountains lie upon 
both sides of the mountains, extending in the wid- " 
est parts 400 miles Eastward from the mountains, 
and on the West to the Pacific Ocean, and from the 
Arctic Ocean to the Isthmus. 

378. Their dimensions. 

Their elevation rises from 2,000 to 9,000 feet ; 
total area, 3,500,000 square miles ; over one-third of 
all the Grand Division. 



SOUTH AMERICA. 



39 



379. The Arctic Highlands. 

Elevated tracts along the coasts of Greenland; 
extent and elevation not known ; crowded thick with 
craggy mountain-pinnacles, gorged with glaciers, 
and thundering in continual avalanches. 

380. The Appalachian or Alleghanian Plateau. 

Extends from the- North of Alabama to New 
York, 800 miles; elevation in the South, 2,000 feet, 
descending to 500 feet Northward ; breadth from 
50 to 100 miles, the whole lying between the ridges 
of the Alleghany and Cumberland, and the Blue- 
Rido-e Mountains. 



381. River-St/stcms of North America. 

Three ; the Atlantic, the Pa- 
cific, and the Arctic, so called 
from the oceans that receive their 
respective waters. 

382. The Arctic System. 



See Map 3, page 



Embraces the northern part of the continent 
with the adjacent islands ; chief rivers, the Mac- 
kenzie, Coppermine, and Back rivers. 

383. The Pacific System. 

Occupies the territory West of the Rocky Mount- 
ains ; chief rivers, the Columbia and Colorado. 

384. The Atlantic System. 

Embraces the central, eastern, and southeastern 
portions of the Continent; it is by far the largest, 
because the water-shed mountains (Rocky) lie so 
near the Pacific as to throw the greater part of the 
drainage of the Continent into the Atlantic. 

385. The dividing ridge. 

A highland of moderate elevation, running E. 
N. E. from the Rocky Mountains at the paral- 
lel of 51° N. Lat., separates the Atlantic and Arc- 
tic Systems. 

336. The Atlantic System's chief rivers. 

The Atlantic System sends the major part of its 
waters to the ocean through the St. Laiorence on 
the East, and the Mississipipi on the South. 



337. The St. Lawrence. 

Carries off the surplus of the Great Lakes, and 
brings an immense volume of water to the ocean. 
It is 2,250 miles long from the western end of Lake 
Superior to its mouth. 

388. The Mississippi. 

Drains a basin-area of 1,333,000 square miles, is 
2,400 miles long, and is the largest river in North 
America. 

389. The Graxd Lake-System of North America. 



See Map 4, page 
93. 



Extends from the Great Lakes 
of the United States inclusive, in a 
belt Northwesterly to the Arctic 
Ocean, and Northeasterly into Labrador. 

390 In detail. 

Combined area of its lakes 150,000 square miles ; 
the principal members of the System, Superior, 
Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario, Winnipeg, Atha- 
basca, Slave, and Great Bear. 



SOUTH AMERICA. 

391. Position of South America 1 

It lies between 10° N. Lat. and 54° S. Lat., and 
between 35° and 82° W. Lon. 

392. In what Zone chiefly ■? 

The Torrid Zone ; hence South America is emi- 
nently tropical in character. 

393. Form of South America 1 

Triangular, the vertex pointing South ; its form 
is but slightly modified either by indentations of the 
sea or by out-juttings of the land. 

394. Hence what of its coast-line ? 

It is short in proportion to the area bounded by 
it, being 1 mile for each 420 square miles of sur- 
face, and 14,500 miles in total length. 

395. Dimensions of South America 1 

4,600 miles in length; 3,000 miles in breadth; 
6,420,000 square miles in area; and 1,150 feet in 
mean elevation. 



40 



S U T H AMERICA, 



': Eg" ..- 







"'•■>■'■ 



1 "'''MJtik 

■ : ■ ■ ■ ■■'.. ■■ '■•'. ' . • . 




111111111111111 

;■ '-' - "■.'■:■,■■..-.■;.■.■,; .-,■, - 
A SOUTH-AMERICAN SCENE 



SS?s- 



396. Characteristics of South America 1 

Vast plains, enormous volcanoes, small plateaus 
and deserts, magnificent rivers, small lakes, and fer- 
tility of soil. 

397. Natural divisions of her territory. 

First, the Atlantic Declivity, embracing all the 
territory East of the Andes ; characteristics, an 
exceedingly level surface, large rivers, a fertile soil, 
and extreme humidity of climate. 

398. And secondly. 

The Pacific Declivity, embracing all the territo- 
ry West of the Andes; characteristics, a mountain- 
ous and broken surface, an unproductive soil, great 
aridity of climate, and vast wealth in precious met- 
als. 

399. Mountain-Systems of South America % 

The Andean and Brazilian Systems, and the 
Mountains of Guiana. 

400. The Andes. 

Are the mountain-spine of the continent ; 4,600 
miles long; breadth from 200 to 400 miles; height 



two miles in the North, three miles in the mid lati- 
tudes, and one mile in the South. 

401. The loftiest peak. 

Is the giant porphyritic Nevado * of Aconcagua, 
23,944 feet high, and covered with an unfurrowed 
surface of resplendent snow. 

402. Volcanoes of the Andes. 

Are noted for their vast elevation, numbers, and 
for their tremendous eruptions. The chief are Are- 
quipa, Cotopaxi, Antisaiia, and Aconcagua. 

403. The Brazilian Mountains 

Consist of a broad belt of low ridges running 
Northeasterly, parallel with the coast, from the lat- 
itude of 30° South to the Equator. 

404. The Mountains of Guiana. 

Extend from the mouth of the Orinoco nearly to 
the mouth of the Amazon ; their loftiest summit, 
Maravaca, is 11,000 feet high. 



* Nevado, snowy, snow-crowned. 



&P ST? 2o3F©]RM & EKVATTIOIf otmt: C< 




Socielr 
Is.' 



]>ang*eroiis 



v -AtcbipfeliiSO 



An'a 2.4i l 0.tHH*stj.nt.. ot'smkintjSea.hftUit 



S outli American Hate au 
4.400 jn-lr 350 m.b. 
154O.00H uq.m. I 

jtycjxu/e IXemMttn 3.500ft 



'^ 



SOUT R AM.ERIC*^ 

•length 4.600m. 

£mad0i, 3.000 m. 

Jrea 6.420,000 sqm. 

MearvUlevco. ,.„„ -.-.- „ - 1150ft. 

O'nxUextlH, 23,5444k 

'Goast lute 14.500 m. 



Ifl Uiongitude Sjo West 



S o. Shetland ■ - Is . 



Area of Continents 47,321 

Area of Pacific 78.000.000 s<f.DU; 

Area of Polar Oceans 10,000.4 



Area of Lands 54=820,00 
Area of the Eaxthi96,820,00 



t \ 



OTKMFg -BEEIEES SIOH of the BE A-1EB 10 5 




3.500 m 

'i.-DJO m. 

*W.000sq.m. 

671ft. 

15.810ft. 

170OO7IV. 



Greatest Length 6.602 in. - Grst-Breadttt 6,394 m-Jrea 2O.0O0.000 sa 



d± 






j.m. - Islands 7.500.000 sq^sx. 
ic 21.000.000 s<j.m -Indian 20.000.000 sq.m. 
IL-Inland Seas. Lakes etc. 7. 000000 ?sq,in 
PWaters 142000.000 s<£.Hfr""" 
TMeanJ^evanon of the Continents 1(3.2 ft- 




90Km°5ludel(i> East 12 



AFRICA 

JOenff&l 6,600m. 

JiTKadtti 4,700m. 

Jb-ea J&oaoOOMfm,. 

•amfftera. --.---.rlitOOfi. 

Greate/rtFi:-- 20M>0 ft.. 

CoasrUme . ...\ 140()0 m 



EaeSTDiThEngraver&Prniter TUTasaau-St .NY. 



SOUTH AMERICA. 



41 



405. Grand Plateau-System of South America. 

As before remarked, is 4,400 miles long, 350 
broad, 1,540,000 square miles in area; an enormous 
upland towering with gigantic mountains, surfaced 
with deserts, perforated by volcanic funnels, and 
forming as it were a gloomy background for the 
magnificent and smiling panorama of the rest of 
the continent. 

406. River-Systems of South America. 

Two; the Atlantic and Pacific 
Systems. 



See Map 3, page 



407. The Atlantic System's chief rivers. 

First, the Amazon, the most magnificent river in 
the World. The stream drains 2,500,000 square 
miles of territory, is 3,900 miles in length, and rolls 
to the ocean a volume of waters three-fold greater 
than any other river upon the Globe. 

408. Secondly, the La Plata. 

Next to the Amazon, the largest river in the 

"World, is 2,350 miles in length, drains an area of 

1,262,000 square miles, and is navigable to the 
sources of its tributary streams. 

409. The Pacific System. 

Contains only insignificant streams, owing to the 
narrowness of the slope and the dryness of the cli- 
mate. 

410. The Lakes of South America. 



See Map ±, page 
93. 



Are small in size, and few in num- 
ber, and are chiefly confined to its 
mountain-regions. 

411. Lake Titieaca. 

On the loftiest part of the South- American Ta- 
ble-land, 170 miles long, 70 broad, 720 feet deep 
near the shores, 4,000 square miles in area, and 
elevated 13,000 feet above the sea. 

412. Lagoons or lake-like marshes. 

Gather in the rainy season along the eastern base 
of the Andes, covering a vast extent of country ; 
in the dry season they waste away into bogs, cov- 
ered with reeds and coarse wild grass. 



Questions upon the Map of the Continents. 

NO. 2. PAGE 43. 

Precisely what and how much is shown upon Map No. 2 ? 
What two dimensions of the lands are there shown 1 Ans. 
Their Extent and Height. 

What is the form of North America 1 Is it a regular tri- 
ang'e 1 

How large is North America 1 How long its coast-liDe 1 
The elevation of North America 1 How do you distinguish 
the highly elevated parts on the Map "? 
What occupies the western part of North America 1 
What is its extent and height 1 

What occupies the center of North America 1 Its dimen- 
sions 1 

Is North America mostly plain or plateau 1 
What is the height of the Rocky Mountains in different lat- 
itudes i. 

Height of the Coast-Range 1 

How high is the country along the Atlantic Ocean ? 

Along the Gulf of Mexico 1 In the center of the plain, 
Lat. 45° 1 

How do you know the exact height in these cases 1 
What is the height of the North-American Plateau between 
20° and 30° N. Lat. 1 

Average elevation of the Alleghanian Plateau 1 



■ The form and dimensions of South America'? Its elevation ? 

Dimensions of the South-American Highlands 1 Length, 
breadth, area 1 

Dimensions of the Central Plain 1 

How do you distinguish the highlands from the plains 1 

Height of the Ancles in different latitudes'? 

Elevation of the Brazilian Plateau in different parts % 

Height of the mountains upon the plateau'? 

What is the name of the plateau and mountains in the 
northern part of the Central Plain % 

Where is the water-shed ridge betwixt the northern and 
southern part of I he Central Plain 1 

What special name is given to the northern part of the 
Central Plain 1 ? to the central parti 



42 



EUROPE. 



CHAPTER VIII 



Playslco-Bescrlptlve View of the Eastern Continent. 



THE EASTERN CONTINENT. 

413. Position of the Eastern Continent. 

It extends from 17° 33' W. Lon., through all the 
east longitudes to 170° W. Lon., and from 78° 16' 
N. Lat., to 34° 50' S. Lat., a range of 113° in lati- 
tude, and of upwards of 200° in longitude. 

414. In what Zone chiefly 1 
In the North-Temperate. 

415. Form of the Eastern Continent. 

It presents the form of two vast irregular trian- 
gles united at the Isthmus of Suez. 

416. Dimensions of the Eastern Continent. 

10,000 miles in length, 8,000 miles in breadth ; 
33,000,000 square miles in area; coast-line 61,800 
miles, 1 mile to each 533 square miles of area. 

417. Characteristics of the Eastern Continent. 

First, the consolidation of its land-masses with- 
in comparatively narrow limits. 

418. Secondly. 

The large proportion of plateaus upon its sur- 
face. 

419. Thirdly. 

The irregularity and complexity of its mountain- 
systems. 

420. Fourthly. 

The comparative smallness of its rivers and lakes. 

421. Fifthly. 

The enormous extent of deserts upon its surface. 

422. Sixthly. 

The general aridity of its climate. 

423. Grand Divisions of the Eastern Continent. 
Three ; Europe, Asia, and Africa. 



EUROPE. 

424. Position of Europe. 

It extends from 36° to 71° N. Lat., and from 9° 
27' W. Lon. to 60° 36' E. Lon. ; a range of 35° in 
latitude and of 70° in longitude. 

425. Form of Europe. 

It is so irregular as scarcely to be comparable to 
any geometrical figure ; it constitutes a sort of ver- 
tex to the immense triangle of Europe- Asia. 

426. What renders its form so irregular 1 

First, outreaching peninsulas, Greece, Italy, 
Spain, Denmark, and Norway and Sweden ; sec- 
ond, inreaching branches of the ocean, the Med- 
iterranean, White, and Baltic Seas. 

427. Dimensions of Europe. 

Length 3,500 miles ; breadth 2,400 miles ; area 
3,500,000 square miles ; mean elevation 671 feet ; 
coast-line 17,000 miles ; 1 mile to each 156 square 
miles of area. ■ 

428. Natural boundaries between Europe and Asia. 

In point of fact there are none, though the Ural 
and Caucasus Mountains, and the Black and Cas- 
pian Seas, furnish a semblance of natural division. 

429. Characteristics of Europe. 

A plain surface, very small plateaus, short and 
moderately elevated mountains, numerous rivers 
and lakes, a soil considerably fertile, and a temper- 
ate and humid climate. 

430. Natural divisions of her territory. 

The Plains upon the North, and the Mountain- 
districts upon the South. 



ASIA. 



43 



431. The plains of Europe. 

Extend from the western border of France, 
through Holland, Germany, and Russia to the Ural 
Mountains. 

432. The local designations of these plains. 

Landes in France, sandy downs covered with 
heath or with pine ; Heaths in Germany, covered 
with the heath-plant, with gravels and occasional 
bogs ; Steppes in Russia, covered with sands, heath- 
plants, wiry grass, gravel, and salt incrustations. 

433. The Mountains on the South. 

Extend in a belt of disconnected ranges, from the 
Pyrenees of Spain, through the Appenines of Italy, 
the Alps of Switzerland, the Carpathians of Aus- 
tria, the Balkan of Turkey, to the Caucasus and 
the Caspian Sea ; the highest mountain in Europe 
is Mont Blanc of the Alps, 15,810 feet. 

434. The Plateaus of Europe 

Are few and small ; the Plateau of Spain cov- 
ering the whole interior of that peninsula, is eleva- 
ted from 2,000 to 3,000 feet ; the Plateau of Ba- 
varia, and of the Valdai Hills in Russia, are 
small and of low elevation. 

435. Europe's River-Systems. 

Two ; the Northern and the Southern, separ- 
ated by the Alps and German Mountains in the 
West, and by a low elevation of the European 
Plain in the East. 

436. The Southern System's chief rivers. 

The Southern System contains for principal riv- 
ers the Volga, 2,200 miles long ; the Danube, 1,630 
miles long; Dnieper, 1,200 miles long; and the Dow, 
1,100 miles long. 

437. The Northern System's chief rivers. 

The Northern System contains for chief streams, 
the Rhine, 760 miles long ; the Elbe, 690 ; Seine, 430 ; 
and the Loire, 570 miles long ; important rather in 
view of the civilizations upon their banks than of 
their magnitude. 



438. Lake-Systems of Europe. 

'Two ; the Alpine System, and the System of 
the Baltic ; beautiful lakes are found among the 
highlands of Scotland. 

439. The Alpine System. 

Are noted for their piuturesqueness, beauty, and 
great elevation. 

440. The Baltic System. 

Consists of a vast number of lakes situate in the 
countries adjacent to the Baltic Sea ; Sweden and 
Finland are complete net-works of lakes ; and the 
coasts of Russia have several large and innumera- 
ble small lakes. 



ASIA. 

441. Asia occupies what 1 

The remainder of the great continental triangle 
of which Europe constitutes the vertex. 

442. Asia's position. 

It extends from 27° E. Lon. to 170° W. Lon., 
and from 1° 15' to 78° 20' N. Lat. 

443. In what Zone chiefly 1 

In the North-Temperate Zone. 

444. The form of Asia. 

An irregular triangle ; modified first, by out-jut- 
ting peninsulas, Kamschatka, Corea, India-; Hin- 
doostan, and Arabia; and secondly, by indenting 
branches of the ocean, the Sea's of Okhotsk, Corea, 
China, and Arabia ; the Bay of Bengal and the 
Persian Gulf. 

445. Dimensions of Asia. 

Length from East to West, 5,600 miles ; breadth 
from North to South, 5,300 miles ; area 17,500,000 
square miles ; average elevation, 1,600 feet ; coast- 
line, 30,800 miles ; 1 mile to each 459 square miles 
of area. 

446. Characteristics of Asia. 

Enormously elevated plateaus ; stupendous, but 
tumultuously irregular mountain-chains; immense 
deserts ; salt lakes ; and a climate excessive and in- 
clining to aridity. 



44 



ASIA. 




v: f;i 



llllffl S ' ; , «/ 




■uBL 



WBRHKM 



THE CACTUS HEDGE, A TROPICAL SCENE. 



447. Natural divisions of its territory. 

The Plains of the North, the Plateaus and 
Mountains of the Center, and the mingled Plains, 
Plateaus, and Mountains op the South. 

448. The Plains of the North. 

Extend from the Ural Mountains Eastward to 
the Pacific, and from the Altai Mountains to the 
Arctic Ocean. 

449. Their characteristics. 

Are, an exceeding low and level surface, general 
barrenness, with occasional fertility, swamp's, slug- 
gish rivers, numerous salt and fresh lakes, and an 
intensely cold climate ; these plains are called 
Steppes. 



450. The Center of Asia. 

Is occupied with enormous and lofty plateaus en- 
circled by towering mountains, and extending from 
the Black Sea to the Khin-Ghan and Yun-Ling 
Mountains, 

451. This Plateau-System embraces what 1 
Embraces the Plateaus oe Asia Minor, Arme- 
nia, and Persia, extending Southeast from the 
Black Sea to the Great Plain of Hindoostan. 

452. Also, what 1 ? 

The so-called Oriental Table-la\d, lying be- 
tween the Altai and Himalaya Mountains on the 
North and South, and between the Belor-Tag 
Mountains on the "West, and the Khin-Ghan and 
Yun-Lina: Mountains on the East. 



ASIA. 



45 



453. The entire system's area. 

It occupies not far from 8,000,000 square miles ; 
elevation from 3,000 to 13,000 feet ; 1,500,000 square 
miles of it are covered with shingly gravel and 
shifting sands, irreclaimable desolations. 

454. The Central Mountain-Chains. 

Are the Mountains of Armenia, the Hindoo- 
Koosh, the Himalayas, the Kuen-Lun, the Thian- 
Shan, the Altai, and the Aldan Mountains. 

455. The Himalayas. 

Are the loftiest mountains on the Earth ; their 
length 1 ,500 miles, breadth 225 miles ; average 
elevation 3 miles ; height of loftiest peak, Mount 
Everest, 29,002 feet, the highest mountain on the 
Globe. 

456. Characteristics of Central Asia. 

An immensely elevated and rugged surface, an 
exceedingly barren soil, and an intensely arid and 
excessive climate. 

457. Southern Asia. 

Is occupied with plains, highlands, mountains, 
deserts, and tracts of great fertility, mingled togeth- 
er in extraordinary variety. 

458. In detail, Arabia. 

Is an elevated plain covered with driving sands, 
an arid, sun-burned wilderness, with oases of won- 
drous fertility dotting its bronzed surface with oc- 
casional verdure. 

459. Hindoostan. 

Contains the Plateau of toe Deccan in its 
southern portion ; and a very extensive plain in its 
northern, channeled by mighty rivers, and covered 
with a magnificent vegetation ; the " Garden of the 
Orient," and the " Land of fable and song." 



460. River-Systems of Asia. 

Three ; the Arctic, Pacific, and 
Indian' Systems. 



See Map 3, page 



461. The Arctic System's chief rivers. 
The Obi, 2,530 miles long; the Yenesei, 2,900; 
and the Lena, 2,400 miles long. These are frozen 



See Map 4, page 



over nine months of the year, but roll enormous 
volumes of water to the ocean during the remain- 
der of the year. 

462. The Pacific System's chief rivers. 

The Amoor, 2,300 miles long ; the Hoang-Ho, 
2,600 ; the Yang-tse-Kiang, 3,200 ; and the Cambo- 
dia, 2,000 miles long. 

463. The Indian System's chief rivers. 

The Ganges, 1,460 miles long; the Indus, 1,700; 
the Iraivaddy, 1,200 ; the Brahmapootra ; the Ner- 
budda, and the united Euphrates and Tigris. 

464. Asiatic Lakes. 

Are comparatively few in num- 
ber, and small in size ; the largest 
is Lake Baikal, among the Altai 
Mountains ; area 15,000 square miles ; its waters 
are clear and fresh, abound in fish, but are frozen 
over six months in the year. 

465. The Salt Lakes of Asia. 

Are situated about the Caspian, itself a salt lake ; 
some are in Persia, in Afghanistan, in Armenia, and 
in Asia Minor ; Lake Tiberias and the Dead Sea 
are in Palestine. 

466. The supposed origin of these lakes. 

A salt sea probably once existed in the depressed 
area in which these lakes stand ; it has evaporated, 
and left these brine-lakes, and left the surrounding 
country crusted with salt-crystals and marine re- 
mains. 



AFRICA. 

467. What does Africa occupy 1 

The second and smaller of the two great trian- 
gles that constitute the Eastern Continent. 

468. Geographic position. 

Africa extends from 37° 20' N. Lat., to 34° 50' 
S. Lat., and from 51° 22' E. Lon. to 17° 32' W. 
Lon. 

469. In what Zone chiefly 1 

The Torrid Zone; Africa is the most tropical 
Grand Division of the Earth. 



46 



AFRICA. 



470. Africa's general form. 

Triangular, the vertex pointing South, the base 
resting on the Mediterranean Sea; modified neither 
by indentations of the ocean, nor by out-juttings 
of the land. 

471. Dimensions of Africa. 

5,600 miles in length ; 4,700 miles in breadth ; 
area, 11,300,000 square miles ; mean elevation 1,800 
feet; coast line 14,000 miles, 1 mile to each 623 
square miles of area. 

472. Africa's general characteristics. 

Very large plateaus, a burning and arid climate, 
immense deserts, small rivers and lakes, and a coast 
closed against the sea. 

473. Natural divisions of its territory. 

A Desert Plain on the North; and an Enor- 
mous Table-Land on the South. 

474. The Plains of the North. 

Embrace the Sahara and Nubian Deserts, an area 
of 3,000,000 square miles, covered with flints, slabs, 
gravels, and shifting sands; waterless oceans of 
desolation with here and there an oasis-island dewy 
with fountains, and fresh with unfading verdure. 

475. The Central Belt. 

A region of great fertility and dense population 
stretches across the continent in its mid latitudes, 
though with limits not definable in the present state 
of geographic knowledge. 

476. The Table-land on the South. 

The whole of Africa from the parallel of 6° N. 
Lat. Southward to the Cape, is supposed to be one 
continuous plateau, whose mean elevation above 
the sea is not less than 2,500 feet. 

477. Why the whole region is supposed to be elevated. 
Because the country from the shore inland rises 

in successive terraces, and because observations 
taken at various points upon the general surface, in- 
dicate an elevation from 2,000 to 4,000 feet. 

478. Examples. 

Lake Ngami is 2,000 feet above the sea ; Lake 
Tanganyika, 1,800 feet ; Lake Nyanza, 4,000 feet ; 



and yet they all occujjy depressed areas. Moreover, 
the northeast point of the Southern Table-Land, 
the Plateau of Abyssinia, has an elevation of 7,000 
feet. 

479. The Mountains of Africa. 

Form a broken girdle that encompasses no small 
part of the entire continent. 

480. The several links in this chain. 

Are, the Atlas Mountains on the North, the 
Abyssinian, Lupata, and NieUveldt Mountains on 
the East and South, and the Eanges on the 
West, from 14° N. to 10° S. Lat. 

481. In addition to these chains. 

There is a range in the mid latitudes of the con- 
tinent, which is supposed to extend nearly across 
its entire breadth, but what course it takes in the 
interior cannot be affirmed with certainty. 

482. The Atlas Mountains on the North. 

Have an average elevation of about 5,000 feet ; 
they are bordered by a fertile country on both sides. 

483. The Lupata Mountains. 

Are considerably removed from the coast ; their 
seaward slope is fertile and well-watered, and im- 
mense lakes lie at their feet on the inland side. Kil- 
mandjaro, 20,000 feet high, the highest mountain 
in Africa, is situate upon one of their inland spurs. 

484. The River-Systems of Africa. 

Are Two ; the System of the 
Atlantic Ocean, and the System 
op the Indian Ocean. 



See Map 3, page 
64. 



485. The Nile. 

The chief river of the Atlantic System, rises near 
the Equator, drains the plateaus and highlands ad- 
joining, flows in the lower part of its course through 
a narrow valley, receives no tributary for 1,400 
miles above its mouth, and empties into the Medi- 
terranean after a course of 2,600 miles. 

486. The Niger. 

The River of the Blacks, rises among the mount- 
ains of Soudan, flows at first toward the center of 



AFRICA. 



47 



See Map 4, page 
93. 



the continent, and thence to the Gulf of Guinea, a 
course of 2,300 miles, through a magnificently fer- 
tile country. 

487. The chief river of the Indian System. 
Is the Zambesi, navigable for 900 miles. 

488. The lakes of Africa. 

Have been supposed to be few 
in number, and small in size ; re- 
cent explorations have shown the 
impression to be not entirely true. 

489. The largest known till recently. 

Tchad, on the northern slopes of the Great South- 
ern Plateau, is 150 miles long, 90 broad ; elevation 
' above the sea, 850 feet ; depth from 8 to 15 feet, 
save in the wet season, when its volume is greater. 
Its waters are fresh and clear, abound in fish, croc- 
odiles, and hippopotami. 

490. Lake Maravi or Nyassi. 

In Lat. 10° S., Lon. 33° E., has been discovered 
to be a chain of lakes, stretching North and South 
at the foot of the western slope of the mountains. 

491. A great lake Tanganyika. 

Has recently been discovered in about 6° S. Lat., 
30° E. Lon. ; 300 miles long, 30 broad, stretching 
North and South, and elevated 1,800 feet above 
sea-level. The country all about it is 3,600 feet 
in elevation. 

492. Lake Nyansa. 

Eecently discovered, 300 miles -long, 90 broad, in 
2° 30' S. Lat., 33° 30' E. Lon., is the largest lake 
in Africa, is 4,000 feet above the sea, and has been 
conjectured to be the main source of the Nile. 

493. Lake Ngaml 

In Lat. 20° S., Lon. 22° E., 60 miles long, 14 
wide, is a shallow reservoir for the surplus waters 
of an immense interior area. Its waters are de- 
rived entirely from the wet-season floods of the 
mountains on the North, for it never rains in the 
region of the Lake. Its elevation above the sea is 
2,000 feet. 



Questions upon the Map of the Continents. 

NO. 2, PAGE 43. 

What is the form of Europe-Asia 1 

Where is the base of the triangle 1 The vertex 1 

Dimensions of Europe 1 Its elevation 1 Greatest eleva- 
tion? 

Length of coast-line 1 

Special names given to different parts of the European 
Plain 1 
Name the principal mountain-chains and their altitudes 1 



What are the dimensions of Asia 1 Its elevation ? Greats 
est elevation 1 

Where is the great Northern Plain of Europe-Asia? Its 
dimensions 1 Altitude 1 

Where is the Oriental Plateau 1 Its dimensions and alti- 
tude 1 

Dimensions and elevation of the Plain of China 1 
Dimensions, etc. of the Plain of Mantchooria ? 
Area of the Plain of Hindoostan 1 Dimensions of the 
Plain of Arabia"? 
Where are the Plateaus of Iran, Armenia, and Asia Minor 1 
Their combined area 1 Their respective elevations % 
Elevation of the Plateau of the Deccan 1 
Height of the Himalaya Mountains 1 Of the Ural Mount- 
ains? 

Height of the Yun-Ling and Khin-Ghan Mountains 1 
Name the chief mountain-ranges and their elevations. 



Dimensions of Africa 1 Mean elevation 1 Chief elevation 1 

Dimensions of the Plain of North Africa % Its elevation ? 

What occupies the southern part of Africa 1 

Dimensions and elevation of the Plateau of South Africa 1 

What bank at the southern point of Africa 1 Depth of 
water upon it ? 

What Plateau in the northeast part is specified 1 Its ele- 
vation 1 

What plateau in the North ? Its area and elevation ? 
What mountains in the North ? Their height? 
Central ranges and their altitudes ? 
Coast ranges and their altitudes ? 



PART II. 



T H 



.A. T ID R 




AN OCEAN-SCENE, THE ICEBERG. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The Extent of the Ocean. 



The Depth of the Ocean. 
Ocean-Hasin. 



The Shape of the 



THE EXTENT OP THE OCEAN. 

494. Total area of waters upon the Earth. 
142,000,000 square miles ; 7,000,000 in lakes and 

inland seas, and 135,000,000 in the Ocean. : 

495. Proportional extent of the Ocean. 

The Ocean occupies somewhat less than three- 
fourths of the entire surface of the Globe. 



496. Is it not waste to have so much of the Earth's sur- 
face, water ? 



The oe^an just 
large enough. 



It is not, for it has been shown 
(Chap. II.) that the amount of 
land is just right as it is, and 
therefore it follows that the amount of water is just 
right also, for they are complements of each other. 



THE DEPTH OF THE OCEAN. 



49 



497 



If the waters were to be increased. 



Then the tendency would be to make the Earth's 
climate too moist, its surface wet and boggy, and 
to remove the conditions of life favorable to the no- 
bler plants and animals. 

498. If the waters were diminished. 

The tendency would be to render land-climate too 
dry, and to augment the number and size of des- 
erts ; to increase the severities of climate by lessen- 
ing the tempering influences of the sea ; and thus to 
exercise a disastrous influence upon the habitable 
conditions of the Earth. 

499. Besides, marine life. 

Everything that lives in the sea needs air and 
light in greater or less measure, and these elements 
are found at the surface ; a diminished surface 
would lessen the aeration and illumination of the 
waters necessary to the health of these living 
things. 

500. The extent of the ocean and man's culture. 

The vastness of the ocean and its consequent lia- 
bility to destructive storms have compelled man to 
construct great ships, and steamers like floating 
worlds ; have compelled him to the exercise of his 
faculties, and have thus helped make him a thinking 
as well as toiling being. 

501. In conclusion. 

When God " set a bound to the waters that they 
might not pass over," and said to the ocean, " Hith- 
erto shalt thou come but no further, and here shall 
thy proud waves be stayed," he displayed consum- 
mate wisdom of adaptation not less than omnipo- 
tence of power. 



THE DEPTH OP THE OCEAN. 

502. Greatest known depth of the ocean. 

Between six and seven miles in 
the deep "boot-shaped" area South- 
east of Newfoundland. 



Deep-sea sound- 
ings. 



Average depth. 



The maximum 
icean-depth. 



503. Why is it difficult to take a deep-sea sounding % 
Because the line is apt to part by 

its own weight, or by the heave of 
the sea, or by the motion communi- 
cated to it by currents. It is diffi- 
cult to determine when the plum- 
met has touched bottom, the line continuing to 
run out of its own weight, or being carried out by 
submarine currents. 

504. What of the average depth of the sea 1 

Soundings, the undulations of 
the tide-waves, and of waves engen- 
dered by earthquakes, show that 
the depth of the mid-ocean cannot 
be less than Three miles.* 

505. Making subtractions. 

For shoals, and for the diminished depths near 
the lands, it is within limits to set the average depth 
at Two miles ; it may be greater, but it cannot be 
less.* 

506. Amidst this uncertainty, what is certain % 

That the sea is of just the depth 
to fit it for all purposes required in 
the present order of things. 

507. To show this more fully. 

First, if the sea were much deeper than at pres- 
ent, water would in all probability leak down into 
the hot interior of the Earth much more frequently 
and abundantly, and thus earthquakes would be 
more numerous and destructive. 

508 Secondly, as to diminished surface. 

It could not be much deeper with the same 
amount of water, without having at the same time 
a much smaller surface, whereas, as before shown, 
all the present surface is needed. 

509. Thirdly, as to living things. 

The sea-bed is replete with minute forms of life 
that can live only under the depth of water now 
furnished ; a greater depth would destroy them. 

*See Book Second of Series. 



Sea just deep 
enough. 



50 



THE SHAPE OF THE OCEAN-BASIN. 



510. On the other hand, a diminished depth. 

Would in the first place destroy these living 
things; and more than this, if diminished by half, 
would cover all the habitable portions of the lands. 

511. Moreover, as to climate. 

The tempering influence exerted by the sea upon 
climate would be lessened ; for the shallow ocean 
would freeze over in cold regions, and become ex- 
ceedingly warm in hot ; thus the comfort and per- 
haps the life of marine plants and animals would be 
destroyed. 

512. Lastly, as to navigation. 

Navigation would be nearly impossible in oceans 
so perplexed with bars, shoals, reefs, rocks, etc., as 
the ocean then would be on account of its shallow- 
ness. 

513. Comparative depth of the ocean. 

The depth of the ocean compared with other ter- 
restrial magnitudes is very slight, being at the great- 
est only -jijW h of the Earth's diameter, and only 
2ttW or less, of the breadth of the ocean. 

514. A shallow puddle. 

It would be thought a very shallow puddle that 
should be 166 feet across, and only one inch deep ! 
and yet such is the ratio of the breadth to the 
depth of the sea. 

515. Total volume of the ocean. 

270,000,000 cubic miles, T £„"> of the solidity of 
the Globe — a volume demonstrably just right; as 
might indeed be expected, since when he made up 
the Earth, God " measured the waters in the hol- 
low of his hand," and he certainly would not make 
any mistake in the measuring ! 



THE SHAPE OP THE OCEAN-BASIN". 

516. General shape of the ocean-basin. 

It sinks gradually and in long descending slopes 
from the shore-line downward to the middle depths 
of the sea; so that the sea-bed is a stupendous 
sunken plain. 



517. First modification of this general form. 

If the slope of the land from the interior to the 
coast, be abrupt, it will continue abrupt underwa- 
ter, and great depths will be found not far from 
shore; as off the western coasts of the Americas. 

518. Second modification. 

If the seaward slope of the continent be gradual, 
the same will continue under water, and great 
depths will be found only at a great distance from 
shore ; as off the western coast of the Sahara Des- 
ert. 

519. So that what appears 1 

That the continents rise from the bed of the sea 
with as various degrees of abruptness as do high- 
lands from the general level of the lands ; indeed, 
the continents are nothing but highlands planted 
upon the sunken plain of the sea-bed. 

520. ITnevcnncss of the sea-bed. 
The surface of the sea-bed is 

marked by all the irregularities, 
hills, mountains, plateaus, and 
plains, that diversify the surface of the land. 

521. The causes of these irregularities of surface. 

Are the same as the irregularities of the land- 
surface, referred to in a previous chapter ; volcan- 
ic forces producing upheaval and depression of 
areas, and a breaking-up and distortion of the strata. 

522. The reasons for these irregularities. 

Are as strong as for the same on the lands, be- 
cause during the existence of the Globe, these sub- 
merged areas have come and may again come to 
the light and air ; and the same conditions of sur- 
face would then and there be necessary as are now 
necessary upon the lands. 

523. Why the ocean-basin is shaped as it is. 

The reasons for the present shape 
of the ocean-basin are exceedingly 
strong, inasmuch as that shape is 
essential to the comfort and even 



Unevenncss of 
the sea-lied. 



Why the ocean- 
basin ia shaped as 
it is. 



the life of myriads of organic existences. 



THE SHAPE OF THE OCEAN-BASIN. 



51 



521. What organic existences 1 

It is perfectly well ascertained that upon each 
successive furlong of the sea-bed, from the shore- 
line downward to the central deeps of the ocean, 
numerous and different species of living things are 
found. 

525. Where only they can live. 

These different species can exist in only the pre- 
cise conditions furnished by these slopes ; some liv- 
ing only where a high tide can reach them, and oth- 
ers flourishing at the depth of miles. 

526. Their classes, uses, etc. 

First, Plants; from fine sea-mosses to giant algse, 
1,500 feet tall, and covering square roods of ocean 
with resplendent crimson and purple leaves : sec- 
ondly, Animals; slugs, and snails, and jelly-like ra- 
diata, by nondecillions — eating and eaten in turn, 
and serving as important offices as plants and ani- 
mals on the land. 

527. As to their numbers. 

Some idea thereof may be formed from the fact 
that enormous plateaus in the sea are known to be 
composed of the minute shells of only two or three 
species of shell-fish ; and from the fact that the 
sounding-plummet rarely fails to bring up traces of 
organic, life from whatever depth it may reach in 
any part of the ocean. 

528. Common marine blue mud. 

The common blue mud so abundantly spread 
over the sea-bed, is found to be charged with or- 
ganic forms, the presence of which gives it its char- 
acteristic color and smell. 

529. If the shape of the marine basin were changed con- 
siderably. 

The consequences could be no otherwise than ru- 
inous to these living creatures ; the preservation of 
these becomes a reason of incalculable moment 
why the shape of the sea-basin should be as it is. 



530. The shape of the ocean-basin and navigation. 
First, the bed of the sea rising 



Shape of the sea- 
bed with respect 
to navigation. 



gradually to the shore-line, be- 
comes in its higher parts, reefs, 
shoals, solitary rocks, etc., which 
expose ships to great peril going to 
and from port. 

531. These dangers. 

Are in part avoidable bj r proper caution and 
watchfulness, and in part they constitute a share 
of the inevitable difficulties laid upon those who 
go down to the sea in ships ; in either case furnish- 
ing a salutary discipline to man. 

532. Secondly. 

The existing form of the sea-basin becomes a 
great security to ships near the land, by giving 
through soundings, information of danger during 
the darkness of night, and the fury of tempests ; the 
seaman learns from soundings where he is and 
where his dangers lie. 

533. If the lands rose with vertical faces from vast 
depths. 

Shipwrecks would be vastly more numerous, be- 
cause it would be impossible to ascertain the bear- 
ings of the lands with such certainty as at present ; 
and vastly more destructive of life and property, be- 
cause the ship and its contents wonld sink at once 
into unfathomable depths. 

534. Moreover, in the event of storms near the land. 

Vastly more ships would founder than at pres- 
ent, because the waves rolling in upon the land 
with full mid-ocean magnitude, and rebuffed by the 
vertical shores, would raise so terrible a commo- 
tion that nothing could withstand their fury. 

535. What therefore do we conclude 1 

That the marine basin is shaped in perfect ac- 
cordance with the necessities of the case ; so that 
even if he had the power to modify it, man could 
not contrive to shape it any better. 



52 



THE SALTNESS OF THE OCEAN. 



CHAPTER X. 



The Saltness of the Ocean. The Temperature of the Ocean. 



The fact and de- 
gree of uceanic 
saltiness. 



THE SALTNESS OF THE OCEAN. 

536. The fact of the saltness of the ocean. 

The oceanic waters are impreg- 
nated with various chemical salts 
such as carbonate of lime, sul 
phate of soda, sulphate of magne- 
sia, etc., etc. ; the chief saline ingredient is chloride 
of sodium, or common salt. 

537. The proportion of oceanic salts. 

Iii the tropical ocean -J T ' k part by weight, in the 
Temperate Zone oceans Jg-* part, and in the Frigid 
about T y h part. In other words, from two to very 
nearly four per cent, of the entire weight of the 
ocean consists of salts. 

538. The ocean not saturated. 

No part of the ocean contains so much salt as it 
can dissolve; in other words, no partis saturated 
with salt. Water at freezing-point dissolves thirty- 
six per cent, of its weight of salt, and boiling water 
dissolves forty per cent. 

539. How did the ocean become salt 1 



Origin of the 
marine salts. 



It is impossible to determine ; 
it is not improbable that it got the 
greater part of its saltness dur- 
ing that geologic period when the waters being 
hot, had great solvent power, and when the Earth's 
surface being continually upheaved and broken, ex- 
posed the salts contained in its upper strata to their 
action. 

540. As to mines of salt. 

It is very probable that mines of salt exist in the 
bed of the sea, which help maintain its salineness 
by gradual melting. 



541. What of rivers also 1 

All the rivers that flow into the sea carry salts 
with them; and since evaporation takes up nothing 
but pure water from the sea, the waters thereof 
must of course become and remain salt. 

542. Physical cause why the tropical ocean is so salt. 

By reason of its high tempera- 
ture the tropical ocean evaporates 
more freely than the extra-tropical, 
and therefore contains a larger re- 
siduum of salts, and of course be- 
comes and is Salter. 

543. Whereas the extra-tropical ocean. 

Receives through the rains a large portion of 
the fresh water evaporated from the tropical ocean, 
and hence its salineness is diminished. 

544. Why is the ocean salt"? 
First, it is generally thought 

that the salineness of the sea pre- 



Cause of the dif- 
ferent degrees of 
saltness in differ- 
ent parts of the 
ocean. 



Reasons why 
the ocean is salt. 



vents it from becoming corrupted 
with the decomposing animal and vegetable mat- 
ter floating therein. 

545. What cannot be questioned. 

That the saltness of the sea has such an anti- 
septic * influence, and contributes largely to the pu- 
rity of the ocean, especially in hot climates. 

546. Nevertheless, lakes. 

It must be remembered that lakes remain pure 
from age to age without any considerable saline in- 
termixture, and that, too, in hot climates, and al- 
though a larger proportion of decomposing matter 
is contained in their waters. 

* Antiseptic — anti-putrefactive, resisting putrefaction. 






THE TEMPERATURE OF THE OCEAN. 



53 



547. The salts and marine life. 

These salts enter into the structure and are es- 
sential to the life of innumerable animal and vege- 
table forms dwelling in the sea ; to all of them, in 
fact, for all absorb the salts. 

548. The coral insect, or polyp, for example. 

Absorbs the salts of the sea into itself, and se- 
creting them from its pores in the form of a hard 
shell or skeleton, builds up huge islands in the 
ocean, its palatial mansion while living, its kingly 
mausoleum when dead. 

549. If the sea were not saline, or were less saline than it is. 
These myriad forms of life would all perish, or 

would suffer in proportion to the diminution ; just 
as all land-creatures would perish or would suffer, 
if the air about them were to be deprived of any 
one of its chief elements. 

550. Why does not the whole ocean become at last too 
salt? 

Because as fast as the salts accumulate, they are 
absorbed and used up by the various plants and an- 
imals which need them; the more abundant the 
salts, the better the living things thrive, and the 
more salts they want. 

551. Why does not the tropical ocean become too salt 1 
Because the ocean-currents carry the warm over- 
saline waters, and mix them with the cold under- 
saline waters, and bring back the under-saline to 
mix with the over-saline. 

552. Why does the tropical ocean have a double share of 
saltl 

Because the marine existences that need salt are 
much more numerous in it than in the extra-trop- 
ical oceans, and need much more -of the salts. 

553. Thirdly, the salts and evaporation. 

Salt has an attraction or affinity for water ; there- 
fore since salt will not evaporate, salt water vapor- 
izes more slowly than fresh. 

554. Evaporation checked. 

By this means evaporation from the hot oceans is 
kept within bounds, so that no more moisture is 



taken up than is needed, and deluging rains are pre- 
vented from swamping the lands. 

555. If the sea were as salt in all parts as in the tropics. 

Then evaporation would be quite out of the 
question in the extra-tropical regions ; for there 
would not be heat enough to overcome the affinity 
of the salt for the water. 

556- If, on the other hand, the whole ocean were not Salt- 
er than the frigid oceans now are. 

Then the tropics would be drowned in enormous 
rain-falls resulting from over-copious evaporations ; 
and thus suitable conditions of living for tropical 
plants and animals would be destroyed. 

557. The salts and the ocean-currents. 

The marine salts are among the most efficient 
producers of the ocean-currents ; the ocean-cur- 
rents are among the indispensable parts of the sys- 
tem of the World ; and therefore the marine salts 
are indispensable parts also. 

558- In conclusion. 

In the fact of the oceanic saltness, and the differ- 
ent degrees thereof, and in the various means em- 
ployed to keep that saltness just right, we discover 
the hand of a wonder-working, not less than the be- 
nevolence of an all-lovino- God. 



THE TEMPERATURE OF THE OCEAN. 



559. The mean temperature of the ocean. 

The mean temperature of the 
ocean would be expected to be 
59|°, because such is the mean 
temperature of the atmosphere at 



Average temper- 
fltureof the ocean. 



the surface of the Earth ; and all parts of the sea 
are sooner or later exposed to the atmosphere. 

560. But water evaporates. 

Evaporation is a cooling process, and hence the 
average temperature of the ocean is not so high as 
59|° ; the precise figure is not known. 

561. As to the internal heat of the Earth. 

It does not affect the temperature of the sea, any 



54 



THE TEMPERATURE OP THE OCEAN. 



Temperature of 
the under-ocean. 



more than of the land or atmosphere ; and as in 
the case of the latter two, its sensible and measura- 
ble effect may be regarded as zero; hence marine 
temperature, like atmospheric, is determined by the 
heat of the Sun and of the fixed stars. 

562. Temperature of the deep-sea. 

The entire under-ocean, in all lat- 
itudes, climes, and ages, preserves 
the one uniform temperature of 40° 
on the scale of Fahrenheit. 

563. The physical cause of this. 

Water at the temperature of 40° is denser and 
heavier than at any other temperature, and hence 
sinks to the bottom, displacing water either warmer 
or colder than itself. 

564. Surface-temperature in the Frigid Zones. 
The temperature of the surface- 



waters of the Polar Oceans Varies Surface-temper- 

atures. 

from 28° to 36° ; sinking to 28° in | 

the Winter; and rising to 36° in 

the Summer in those portions of the ocean which 

are cleared of ice by currents early in the season. 

565. For the greater part, however. 

The temperature does not rise above 28° at any 
season ; the melting ice consumes the Summer- 
heats, and thus prevents any rise of temperature 
above 28°. 

566. Oceanic surface-temperature in the tropics. 
Eanges from 70° to 89°. The Gulfs of Mexico 

and G-uinea alone exhibit so high a temperature 
as 89° ; the average temperature of the tropical 
ocean is about 80°. 

567. Total range of oceanic temperatures. 

61° ; from 28° to 89°; exceedingly small in view 
of the fact that the total range of climatic temper- 
ature is 289°. 

568. The physical cause why the range is so small. 

First, water resists any elevation of its temper- 
ature by evaporating, and using up the heat that 
would raise its temperature; and the more heat is 



brought to bear upon it, the more it resists by more 
copious evaporations. 

569. Secondly, on the other hand. 

Water will turn to ice rather than cool below 28°, 
(salt water), and the ice serves as a blanket to keep 
the heat in and the cold out. 

570. Third, the ocean-currents. 

Carry the hot water to the cold, and the cold to 
the hot, so that they commingle, and their extremes 
are mitigated. 

571. Sow does the ocean become heated to the depth of 
hundreds of feet 1 

The fresh water evaporating, leaves an over-salt 
and highly heated stratum of water upon the sur- 
face ; this sinks by reason of its salineness, and 
carries the heat with it. 

572. The process continues. 

Till the whole surface-ocean becomes heated more 
or less above the temperature of the under-ocean, 
or 40°. In the tropical ocean some elevation of 
temperature is effected even to the depth of 7,200 
feet.* 

573. The grand fact of ocean -temperature. 

Is the fact of the uniform tem- 
perature of the deep-sea in all Zones 
and ages ; for it can be shown that 
weighty consequences hang upon 
this fact. 

574. What power do all land-animals have 7 

The power of providing against the severities of 
climate, either by burrowing, building nests, hiding 
in dens and caves, etc. ; so that all are comfortable. 

575. Since marine animals have no such power. 

They have been placed purposely in an element 
in which a uniform and constant temperature may 
be found. To secure the comfort of these creatures 
is a sufficient reason for having the deep-sea tem- 
perature as it is. 

* See Book Second of Soriee. 



Why the deep- 
sea temperature 
is as it is. 



THE TEMPERATURE OF THE OCEAN. 



55 



576. Does it secure their comfort 1 

It appears to ; for fish in general prefer to be in 
water of this temperature ; and when in it, are 
more healthy, alert, and vigorous than in any other 
temperature. 

577. Moreover, fish caught in cold waters. 

Whose temperature varies but little from 40°, are 
the sweetest, most palatable, and wholesome for 
food , and the same conditions that make a fish 
good food, make him a well-to-do and thriving 
creature ! 

578. The surface-waters being icy-cold or steaming-hot. 
The fisherman has to run his lines down into 

deep water to find any fish, for they all congregate 
in the comfortable deep-sea temperature, showing 
that they choose it. 

579. But the majority of fish have to come where 1 

To the surface of the sea after 
food, and air, and light; and there 
they are exposed to all the extremes 
and severities of oceanic surface- 
temperatures. 

580. What shall be said to this t 

Fish, like men, animals, birds, insects, are sub- 
ject to the law of labor, endurance, privation, and 
suffering. 

581. In other words. 

Fish have a physical probation, or training, just 
as all other creatures have ; a probation that sub- 
jects them to somewhat of suffering, but makes 
them healthier and happier in the main. 

582. The surface extremes needed, then. 

These surface-extremes, then, are just what is 
needed to give the dwellers in the sea a salutary 
physical discipline ; to make them hardy, healthy, 
and happy. 



Why there are 
surface - extremes 
of temperature. 



Some species re- 
quire extremes. 



583. Therefore, reasons, 

As strong reasons obtain for the existence of 
these surface-extremes, as for the existence of the 
uniform deep-sea temperature. 

584. What of certain species of marine animals t 

They love and flourish in the se- 
verest of the surface-extremes of 
temperature ; as the whale, the 
walrus, the narwhal, and the seal, 

in the Polar ; the flying-fish, the dolphin, and the 
porpoise, in the tropical oceans. 

585. Their only chance for life. 

These species cannot live in any other tempera- 
ture than that of the coldest or hottest waters ; 
therefore, to furnish these creatures with a home, is 
a sufficient reason for the surface-extremes of ocean- 
ic temperature. 



Questions upon the Map of Oeean-Temperature. 

NO. 1, PAGE 25. 

What is the oceanic heat-equator 1 Trace the course of it. 

Give its temperature in the different oceans 1 

Which ocean is the warmest 1 

What do the underscored figures with degrees attached, 
signify 1 

Name the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean for each 20° 
of latitude as shown upon the Map. Of the Pacific. Of the 
Indian. 

What is the surface-temperature of the Polar oceans'? 

Average temperature of the deep-ocean in all latitudes ? 

What is the range of oceanic temperatures ? 

How far South does ice come in the North Atlantic 1 

How far North in the South Atlantic ] 

What is the temperature of the Gulf of Mexico 1 Of the 
Gulf of Guinea'? 




56 



THE TIDES. 



CHAPTER XI 



The Tides. Rationale of the Tides. Co-tidal Lines. 



Facts and fea- 
tures of the tides. 



THE TIDES. 

58G. General phenomena of the tides. 

The waters of the sea rise for 
about six hours, and then subside 
for about six, completing the rise 
and fall in 12 hours, 25 minutes. 

587. The amount of rise. 

In mid ocean 2i feet ; near the land it varies 
from none in some localities to 70 feet in others. 

588. Cause of the difference. 

The configuration of the shore. Example : the 
tide-wave entering in great volume the wide-mouthed, 
tunnel-shaped Bay of Funcly, and compressed at 
its upper part, rises to the height of 70 feet. 

589. Converse example. 

The Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea 
have only a very slight tide ; because the oceanic 
tide-wave is obstructed from entering the one by a 
narrow mouth, and the other by islands and sub- 
marine plateaus. 

c 




590. Draw and explain the diagram. 

The round figure marked E in the center is the 
Earth; the dotted line a b c d represents the sur- 
face of the waters ; at a and b, the waters bulge, 
representing high tides ; at c and d they are de- 
pressed, representing low tides. 



Character of tid- 
al motion. 



591. Six hours after the time above supposed. 

The tide b would reach c, and the tide a would 
reach d, and low tides would be at the points a 
and b. 

592. In six hours more. 

The high tide a would come round to b, and the 
high tide b would reach a, making low tide at c and 
d, again. 

593. Tidal time. 

A spot upon the Earth's surface, passing from 
beneath the Moon, comes round beneath it again in 
24 hours, 50 minutes ; hence, there being two tide- 
waves on the Earth at once, high tide will follow 
high tide every 12 hours, 25 minutes. 

594. What of tidal motion 1 

It is undulatory, or wave-like ; 
the form moves onward, but not the 
water; as a slack rope upon being 
shaken, rolls in waves, but does not 
move forward out of the hand. 

595. Near the land, however. 

The waters run in toward the shore like a river, 
and back again, according as the tide is rising or 
falling. 

596. Cause of the flux and reflux near the coast. 
"When the great tide wave approaches the coast, 

its undulation is broken by the acclivity of the sea- 
bed, but the top of the toave rolls shore-ward by the 
force of momentum, and thus makes a current to- 
ward the shore; this inflowing is called the Flood- 
tide. 

597. When the great tide-wave retires. 

Then the waters on the shore are left higher than 
those out at sea ; and hence the former flow out 



THE TIDES. 



57 



toward the latter, to restore the level ; this outflow- 
ing is the Ebb-tide. 

598. Velocity of tidal motion. 

Is greatest at the Equator, about one thousand 
miles an hour; only the great primitive tide- 
wave, that which keeps beneath the Moon, has so 
great a velocity. 

599. The Atlantic tide-wave. 

A secondary tide-wave propagated from the great 
primitive tide-wave, moves about five hundred miles 
an hour, along the channel of the mid ocean. 



■ft G 




600. In shallow waters. 

As on banks, shoals, shores, and in river-chan- 
nels, the tide-wave moves very slowly ; several high 
and low tides exist at once on the river Amazon, 
one tide not moving fast enough to get up the river 
before several others enter it in succession. 

601. Cause of the tides. 

The action of the Moon upon the Earth ; the 
Sun also has considerable influence, but it will not 
be considered in this book. 




■M 



602. Draw and explain the diagram.* 

M, the Moon, and E, the Earth, revolve about 
their common centre of gravity, G, and would fly 
away from each other but for gravitation that at- 
tracts them to each other. 

603. Where is the flying-off tendency on the Earth great- 
est! 

At b, because it is farthest from the common cen- 
tre of gravity, G- ; whereas at a the flying-off ten- 
dency is small, because it is nearer the common 
centre of gravity. 

604. Consequently. 

At a, which is near the Moon, a tide will be drawn 
up by attraction ; and at b a tide will be thrown up 
by the flying-off tendency. 

605. Whereas the solid mass of the Earth. 

Will remain stationary, because attraction and 
the flying-off tendency balance each other. 



* The teacher must explain, illustrate, a_nd enforce; it cannot be done 
fully in the book. 



Reasons why 
there are tides. 



606. Why are there tides 1 

First, millions beyond reckoning 
of vegetable and animal forms can 
exist only upon tracts swept semi- 
diurnally by the tides ;— 60,000 
clams of average size have been dug from one acre 
of clam-flat in a single season, and leaving at that 
a score of little ones behind for each grown one 
taken. 

607. Upon the same acre. 

Half a hundred species of sea-weed, marine 
mosses, marsh-grasses, etc., might be found repre- 
sented in half a million individuals ; and blue-shelled 
muscles, and cockles, and snails dotting the leaden- 
hued mud with their pink and brown dwellings, in- 
numerable for multitude ! 

608. Secondly. 

The tides carry out into the open sea the impuri- 
ties that accumulate in the shallow waters of bays, 
harbors, and rivers ; and thus prevent them from be- 
coming pools of corruption, and breeding pestilence. 



58 



CO-TIDAL LINES. 



609. This is the more important. 

Because our great commercial cities are situated 
upon these shallow waters, and empty all their sew- 
erage into them. London pours 126,000,000 cubic 
yards of sewerage into the Thames annually, and 
but for the drainage of the tides the whole river 
"would soon come to reek with all the odors of a 
cess-pool, 

610. In cold seasons and countries. 

The tides break up and carry off the ice that 
forms in harbors and ports, and would greatly ob- 
struct navigation ; by bringing warm waters from 
the open sea they also prevent the ice from forming 
to great thickness. 

611. Thus when the land is covered with snow. 
Millions of birds find food upon the flats left bare 

by the retreating tides, — a most momentous fact to 
the birds, for it is their only chance for life. 

612. How do tides contribute to man's discipline as a work- 
ing being 1 

They wear away the embankments that protect 
harbors ; they wash out or pile mud upon anchor- 
age-grounds ; they greatly increase the labors of 
loading and unloading vessels, causing them to 
shift their positions constantly ; they subject them 
to the risk of severe strains while aground at low 
water, and make the entrance into and the exit from 
harbors perplexed with rocks, trebly dangerous. 

613. All these difficulties. 

Man can overcome by the exercise of combined 
toil and thought, but not without their exercise ; so 
that the difficulties compel him to intelligent labor, 
and thus contribute to his discipline and improve- 
ment. 



CO-TIDAL LINES. 

614. Co-tidal lines. 

Are lines drawn through places that have high 
tide at the same hour. 

615. The Cradle of the tides. 

Or point from which they radiate in every direc- 



tion, is in the eastern part of the tropical Pacific 
Ocean. 

616. The undulation from that point. 

So moves that places on the west coasts of the 
Americas have their tide later the further they are 
from the Line. 

617. It moves most rapidly. 

To the Northwest and South, because the Pacific 
seems, by the absence of islands, to be deeper in 
those directions than to the East across the archi- 
pelagoes. 

618. The Indian tide-wave. 

Moves most rapidly along its central part, by 
reason of the greater depth ; lags behind at the 
ends, and thus is bow-like in form, with the bulge 
toward Asia. 

619. The Atlantic tide- wave. 

Has the same form, from the same cause; the 
West Indies, Cape Blanco in Africa, and New- 
foundland have high tide at the same time. 

620. Inland seas, lakes, etc. 

Have only a slight tide, because their small ex- 
panses are attracted at all points at the same time 
with equal force, and therefore are not drawn up 
at any particular point into a heap of tide-wave.* 



Questions upon the Tide-Map. 

NO. 1, PAGE 25. 

Where and what is the Cradle of the tides ? 

What is the assumed hour of high tide in the Cradle on 
the Map 1 Would not any other hour answer as well ? 

What are those curving lines called % What are co-tidal 
lines 1 x 

What do the Roman numerals signify 1 

What points on the western coasts of the Americas have 
high tide at 4 o'clock, as assumed on the Map 1 

What points have it at 6 o'clock 1 Is it one and the same 
wave 1 Follow the line and see. 



What is the shape of the co-tidal lines in the Indian and 
Atlantic Oceans % 

* See Book Second of Series. 



TEMPORARY OCEAN CURRENTS. 



59 



Where does the tide-wave move most rapidly, in the mid- 
dle, or on the borders of the oceans 1 Why 1 

What other points have high tides on the Atlantic Ocean 
at the same hour with Newfoundland 1 



What is the depth of tide in the mid-ocean ' 



In the Bay of Bengal % In the Arabian Sea 1 In the 
Gulf of Mexico % 

What is the depth of tide in the Mediterranean Sea 1 In 
the Bay of Fundy'! In the German Ocean, or North Seal 
In the Sea of Corea 1 In the Gulf of Okhotsk 1 In the 
Bay of Biscay"? In the British Channel 1 In Baffins, Bay ] 



CHAPTER XII 



Classification and Causation of the Ocean Currents. 



TEMPORARY CURRENTS. 

621. Three kinds of ocean- currents. 
Temporary, Periodical, and Con- 
stant. 



Classification of 
ocean-currents. 



Causation of tem- 
porary currents. 



622. Temporary Currents. 

Those which are temporary in duration and vari- 
able in direction are caused by rains, snows, melt- 
ing ice, periods of sunshine or clouds, winds, or by 
whatever circumstances temporarily disturb the 
equilibrium of the waters. 

623. A heavy rain-fall. 

"Will produce a current in any 
given part of the ocean ; first, be- 
cause it will raise the level thereof, 
and secondly, because the rain-water 
is fresher than the sea-water; and both circumstan- 
ces will disturb the oceanic equilibrium. 

624. Snows and melting ice. 

Will cause currents, because they add fresh water 
to the salt waters of the sea, and because they cool 
the surrounding waters,, and in both cases disturb 
the oceanic equilibrium. 



625. Bright sunshine. 

Expands the waters by heating them ; whereas 
clouds cut off the direct sun-heat, and the waters 
cool and contract ; hence currents are induced from 
the one region to the other. 

626. Winds induce temporary currents. 

Driving the surface-waters before them, thus form- 
ing a current; when the winds stop bloioing, the 
waters set back toward that part of the ocean 
whence they have been driven, hence other currents 
are induced. 

627. These currents meeting land. 

Slough off on either hand, forming still other cur- 
rents ; these temporary currents near the land are 
often very strong, and are peculiarly embarrassing 
to the navigator, because they cannot be reckoned 
upon, and hence cannot be guarded against. 

628. Periodical Currents. 
Those which occur at a regular 

period of the day or year, are in- 
duced by tides, periodical winds, 
and by periodical variations of heat 
and cold incident to the change of seasons. 



Causation of pe- 
riodical currents. 



60 



CONSTANT OCEAN CURRENTS. 



629. Tides in their ebb and flow. 

Cause in the passages of channels, in straits, and 
harbors, periodical currents of great velocity and 
power , and peculiarly embarrassing to the naviga- 
tor, because he has insufficient sea-room to take 
them to advantage. 

630. Induced by winds, — examples. 

Periodical currents are induced by the Monsoons 
of the Indian Ocean, by the Etesian winds of the 
Mediterranean, and by the " Northers " of the Gulf 
of Mexico; these are mostly surface-drifts overly- 
ing the stronger movements of the constant cur- 
rents. 

631. As the Sun moves North and South. 

The ocean becomes variously heated and cooled 
according to its exposure, and consequently, cur- 
rents forth and back are induced to restore equilib- 
rium ; and of course, they will be periodical cur- 
rents. 

632 Not readily distinguishable. 

This last class of periodical currents are not dis- 
tinguishable to observation amid the complexity of 
the oceanic movements, but it is nevertheless certain 
that they exist, and operate upon a vast scale. 



Causes of the con- 
stant currents. 



CONSTANT CURRENTS. 

633. Constant Currents. 

Those which are constant in du- 
ration and generally uniform in di- 
rection and force, are due to Solar 
heat, to the Rotation of the Earth, 

to Constant winds, to the Salts of the sea, and to 
Evaporation. 

634. How solar heat produces currents. 
The tropical ocean is constantly 

heated above the temperature of 
the extra-tropical oceans ; its wa- 
ters becoming lighter by expansion, 
rise above the level of the general ocean-surface 
and run off to the lower levels at the Poles, 



llavr. solar heat 
produces currents. 



635. Thus are produced. 

Currents from the Equatorial to the Polar oceans, 
flowing in general upon the surface of the sea, be- 
cause of the warmth and consequent lightness of 
their waters. 

636. Return-currents from the Poles. 

The cold waters about the Poles, in general as 
under -currents, flow down to the Line to supply the 
place left vacant by the heated waters; thus solar 
heat accounts for the flow of the waters North and 
South. 

637. The Map shows what 1 

The Map of the Ocean- Currents 
shows that the currents do not 
flow due North and South, but bear 



How rotation 
of the Earth pro- 
duoes currents. 



East and West ; 

westing are due to the rotation of the Earth. 



the easting and 



638. Explain more fully.* 

A body of water in Lat. 60° moves with the 
Earth in its rotation 500 miles an hour, at the Line 
1,000 miles an hour ; and therefore, upon flowing 
down to the Line, the water must receive 500 miles 
an hour more of motion. 

639. As to receiving the motion at once. 

The water will not receive the additional motion 
at once, by reason of its own inertia ; and hence it 
seems to fall back, forming a current toward the 
West. 

640. The general bearing of Equator-ward currents. 
Erom the foregoing reasonings it follows as a 

general statement that all currents setting toward 
the Equator bear Westerly; hence the great 
Equatorial Currents, whose waters have come from 
the Polar oceans, all bear West. 

641. The body of water flowing back from the Line to 
Lat. 60°. 

Must lose 500 miles per hour of motion, but since 
it will not lose the motion at once, it will seem to 
urge forward, forming a current toward the East. 

*The teacher must illustrate and explain ; an artificial globe or substi- 
tute therefor will greatly assist the pupil in comprehending the point in 
question. 



CONSTANT OCEAN CURRENTS. 



61 



Causation of cur 
rents by winds. 



612. The general bearing of Poleward Currents. 

As a general statement, all currents setting 
toward the Poles, bear to the East ; as, for ex- 
ample, the Gulf-Stream, the Japanese Current, and 
in general, the currents resulting from the breaking- 
up of the Equatorial Currents at the western shores 
of the oceans. 

643. The Trade-winds. 
Accelerate the motion of the 

Equatorial Currents toward the 
West, blowing constantly over a 
breadth of 30° on both sides of the Line. 

644. The westerly bearing of the Trades. 

Is itself due to the same cause as the westerly 
bearing of the currents ; but air moves more freely 
than water, and hence the Trade-winds are more 
rapid than the currents, and therefore accelerate 
them. 

645. The strong and prevailing west winds of mid lati- 
tudes. 

Accelerate the easterly bearing of the ocean- 
currents in those latitudes. Thus, the Gulf-Stream 
flows with much greater rapidity toward Europe 
during a westerly gale than during an easterly. 

646. The Salts of the Sea. 

Operate in two modes for the pro- 
duction of currents ; first, as shown 
before, they are the means of heat- 
ing the sea to considerable depths, 

and thereby disturbing equilibrium, and establishing 
currents. 



Causation of cur- 
rents by the ma- 
rine saltB. 



647. Secondly. 

The over-saline masses of the warm oceans, and 
the under-saline masses of the cold oceans, tend to- 
ward each other, to intermingle and restore saline 
equilibrium ; the force which operates in this case 
seems to be a chemico-mechanical force. 

648. The amount of power. 

"With which the unequally saline masses move 
toward each other, is proportioned to their different 
degrees of saltness ; in a volume of ocean as large 
as the Gulf-Stream, the moving force from this cause 
alone is myriads of horse-powers. 

649. Evaporation. 

Produces currents as follows : 
enormous volumes of water are tak- 
en up from the tropical oceans, and 
are precipitated upon the extra- 
tropical ; hence currents from the one to the other 
are set in motion to restore the level. 

650. More specifically. 

The whole surface of the ocean in the Trade- 
wind region is lowered " fifteen feet annually by evap- 
oration ; " and this enormous deficit is made good by 
currents to the amount of seven feet at least, the 
remaining eight feet being furnished by rains. 

651. Combination of the different currents. 

The currents induced by evaporation and the ma- 
rine salts, in general unite and are one with those 
produced by solar heat ; these several causes co- 
operating for the induction of currents. 



Causation of cur 
rents by evapora- 
tion. 




62 



DESCRIPTIVE VIEW OF THE OCEAN-CURRENTS. 



CHAPTER XIII 



Physico-Descriptive View ©f the Constant Ocean-Currents. 



PACIFIC CUR.BENTS. 

652. The largest current of the Pacific Ocean. 

The Pacific Equatorial Current flows West- 
ward across the Equatorial region of the Pacific 
from ten to twenty miles a day ; breadth, 3,500 
miles; depth, like that of the other equatorial cur- 
rents, not yet known, but understood to be hundreds 
of fathoms. 

653. On the eastern coast of Asia. 

This current divides into two branches. One 
flows North along the coast of Asia, East of the 
Japan Islands, sends a branch through Behring's 
Straits into the Arctic Ocean, and is finally lost to 
observation in the ocean on the northwest coast of 
North America. 

654. Name and characteristics of the northern branch. 

The northern branch of the Pacific Equatorial 
Current is called the Japanese Current, or the 
Pacific Gulf-Stream; maximum velocity, 120 miles 
per day ; temperature, 75° to 80° ; color, deep indi- 
go-blue. 

655. Disposal of the southern branch. 

The southern branch of the Pacific Equatorial 
Current in part forces passage through the East- 
Indian Archipelago into the Indian Ocean, and in 
part flows Southeasterly by Australia into the South- 
Pacific and Antarctic Oceans. 

656. The latter portion. ■ - 
Re-crosses the ocean as a counter or return cur- 
rent, and is called the South-Pacific Countee 

CjEEElTT. 



657. This counter current. 

Unites with the current setting down from the 
Antarctic Ocean, and called the Antarctic Drift,* 
and they united both as to directions and waters, 
flow Northeast to the western coast of South 
America. 

658. Upon striking the coast of South America. 

The combined volume of waters divides, sends one 
branch round Cape Horn called the Cape-Horn 
Current, and the other up the coast of South Amer- 
ica, bearing the name of the Peruvian-Coast Cur- 
rent, or Humboldt's Current. 



INDIAN CTJBKENTS. 

659. Passing into the Indian Ocean. 

The Equatorial Current of the Indian Ocean 
draws its waters in part from the Pacific Equatorial 
through the East-Indian Archipelago, and in part 
from the Antarctic Ocean by a current setting North- 
east from that ocean by the western coast of Aus- 
tralia. 

660. Course and disposal of the Indian Equatorial. 

It crosses the Indian Ocean in a broad stream, 
which divides East of Madagascar, and sends one 
branch to the Cape of Good Hope on the East 
of that island, and one branch through the Chan- 
nel of Mozambique, called the Mozambique Cue- 
rent. 



* For the explanation of the fact that the Antarctic Drift, though a very 
cold current, is a surface-current, — see Book Second of Series. 



— T- £" 



MAP NfS.C&CEAF-CXTOLEIf 

EXPLANATION. 7mrt«H 01 

Monsoon aviwi/;? it r-Vel 

/iffzirvs iieiir 1he m-ows. Jbitei 
uncertainty •?.'• to Wocity. 




& BIVEB.- SYSTEMS 



vntfr shown b y » >w» ? 
pei' <?t\y in miles, by 
to?y jnarfts dejtole 




Engraved &. Prime d by Rae Smith..NevYoTk- . 



DESCRIPTIVE VIEW OF THE OCEAN -CURRENTS. 



63 



661. Velocity of the Mozambique Current. 

The Mozambique Current is the swiftest current 
in the ocean, running in the narrowest part 139 
miles a day, or nearly sis miles an hour. 

662. Joined by a periodical current. 

A periodical current induced by the Monsoons of 
the Indian Ocean, and called the Bengal and Mal- 
abar Current, flows one-half of the year from the 
Bay of Bengal and the Sea of Arabia, and unites 
with the Mozambique Current. During the other 
half of the year it flows back again into those seas. 
It is of slight depth. 

663. At the southeast point of Africa. 

The two currents arising from the Indian Equa- 
torial, and flowing, the one on the East and the 
other on the West of Madagascar, unite, and at- 
tempt to double the Cape of Good Hope, under 
the name of the Agulhas Current. 

664. Name and disposal of the Agulhas Current. 

This current, named after the Agulhas Banks at 
the southern point of Africa, is too large to find 
passage for its whole volume over the banks into 
the Atlantic, and hence a portion of it is turned 
back as a counter current into the south part of the 
Indian Ocean. 

665. Disposal of this counter current. 

This South-Indian Counter Current, crossing 
the ocean, unites with waters flowing from the Ant- 
arctic Ocean ; the combined volumes flow North- 
east toward Australia, and finally empty into the 
Indian Equatorial Current. 



ATLANTIC CURRENTS. 

666. Ross's Current. 

That portion of the Agulhas Current which 
doubles Cape Good Hope, having first united with 
waters setting clown from the Antarctic Ocean, 
flows down the western coast of Africa toward the 
Line, under the name of Ross's Current, and emp- 
ties into the Atlantic Equatorial Current. 



667. The central current of the Atlantic. 

The Atlantic Equatorial Current, gathering 
its waters both from the South and the North, cross- 
es the ocean with an average velocity of 47 miles 
per day, and divides into two branches at the east 
point of Brazil. 

668. The southern branch. 

Follows the coast of South America Southwest- 
erly ; its volume is small, its flow is weak, and is 
gradually lost to observation about the latitudes 30° 
to 35° S. A drift from this current continues to 
move South, and falls into and in part composes the 
South-Atlantic Counter Current. 

669. The South-Atlantic Counter Current. 

Enns off Southeast from the coast of South 
America, till meeting and uniting with the Antarc- 
tic Drift, it moves Northeast toward South Africa, 
in part enters the Indian Ocean as a counter cur- 
rent, and in part flows up the western coast of Af- 
rica. 

670. The northern branch of the Equatorial. 

Flows along the northeast coast of South Amer- 
ica under the names of the Guiana Current and 
the Caribbean Current ; pours into the Gulf of 
Mexico, where the waters are all commingled in a 
vast complexity of inconstant and irregular cur- 
rents; and issues from the Gulf round- the south- 
ern point of Florida in the rapid, powerful, and cel- 
ebrated Gulf-Stream. 

671. General course of the Gulf-Stream. 

The Gulf-Stream, so named because it issues from 
the Mexican Gulf, flows Northward between the 
Bahama Islands and Florida, follows the coast of 
the United States, bends to the Eastward, crosses 
the North Atlantic, spreads its waters over the whole 
ocean near Europe, sends some of them into the 
Arctic Ocean round North Cape, and the rest down 
by the Azores into the Atlantic Equatorial Current. 

672. Its velocity. 

At the Narrows of Florida, from two to five 
miles an hour : 1,100 miles from the Narrows, fifty- 



64 



DESCRIPTIVE VIEW OF THE OCEAN-CURRENTS. 



five miles a day; 3,000 miles from the Narrows, 
thirty miles a day. 

673. Its temperature. 

At the Narrows, 86°; at 1,100 miles, 81° ; at 
3,000 miles 78° ; at the Azores 74°. These are its 
Summer or highest temperatures ; its Winter-tem- 
peratures are from 5° to 15° lower. 

674. The warm and cold streaks. 

The warm water lies along in streaks alternating 
with streaks or bands of cool water, extending par- 
allel with the axis or general course of the stream. 

675. Permanence of the bands. 

The bands are permanent, and hold the same rel- 
ative positions at all periods of the year; though 
they move with the whole body of the stream in its 
oscillatiotis North and South. 

676. What oscillations T 

The Gulf-Stream in Summer flows close to New- 
foundland, but in "Winter 4° South of it, in its 
course East ; so that the stream vibrates or oscil- 
lates North and South with the passage of the Sea- 
sons. 

677. The cause of the streaks 1 

Is not well-known ; but mountain-chains on the 
ocean-bottom beneath are supposed to crowd' up 
the deep, cold waters from below toward the sur- 
face, giving rise to the cold bands. The warm 
water occupies the intermediate lines, and forms the 
warm bands.* 

678. The color of the Gulf-Stream. 

Is a deep indigo-blue, perfectly distinguishable 
from the ordinary sea-green or ultra-marine color 
of the ocean in mid and high latitudes. 

679. Causation of the color. 

The depth of color is undoubtedly owing largely 
to the saltness of the waters ; " saltmakers know 
their brine to be getting strong when it turns blu- 
ish ;" the tropical ocean, by reason of its saltness, is 
of a deeper hue than the extra-tropical; the native 

* See Book Second of Series. 



navigators call the Indian Ocean the Black Ocean, 
its waters being very salt and therefore dark. 

680. Another explanation of the color. 

The color is by some ascribed to the presence of 
infusoria, exceedingly minute animal forms that 
flourish in water, and more especially and abundant- 
ly in warm water ; the G-ulf-Stream is known to be 
charged with multitudes of these microscopic crea- 
tures, but it is not known that they are of a sort to 
color the water indigo-blue. 

681. The Japanese Current. 

The Asiatic Gulf-Stream is equally remarkable 
for its deep-blue color, hence it is called by the Jap- 
anese the Kuro Siwo, or Black Stream ; its waters 
are much warmer and Salter than those of the adja- 
cent ocean, hence their darker hue. 

682. The inshore cold drift. 

Between the Gulf-Stream and the United-States 
coast, a drift of cold water moves slowly Southward, 
visible at the surface as far as the mid latitudes of 
Florida ; where it clips down beneath the overflow- 
ing waters of the Gulf-Stream, and becomes subma- 
rine. 

683. What this drift is. 

It is a continuation of the Arctic Current which 
strikes the Gulf-Stream at Newfoundland, crowded 
up from the deep-sea by the acclivity of the sea- 
bed and its own momentum ; and accordingly it is 
continuous with the rest of the cold current which 
underlies the Gulf-Stream. 

684. Its effects. 

It gives to the east winds of the United States 
their peculiar asperity, originates the violent con- 
trast of temperatures which causes the terrific tem- 
pests of the Gulf-Stream, and furnishes our fish- 
markets with the sweetest and best of fish. 

685. The Asiatic inshore drift. 

Between the Japanese Current and the Asiatic 
coast a cold drift exists, correspondent in every re- 
spect to the Atlantic cold drift ; hence the excel- 
lent fish, the blinding fogs, the harsh winds, and the 



DESCRIPTIVE VIEW OF THE OCEAN-CURRENTS. 



65 



ravaging pulmonary diseases of the eastern Asiatic 
coast. 

686. The Northwest-Branch Current. 

The Nortiiwest-Branch Current strikes off 
Northwest from the Atlantic Equatorial in Lon. 30° 
"W., and Hows to Lat. 20° N. in a perceptible cur- 
rent; further North it becomes lost to observation. 

687. Circuit of rotation. 

It will be seen that the whole of the North Atlan- 
tic forms a vast circuit or whirl of waters ; a drop 
is supposed to traverse the entire compass thereof 
in about three years. 

688. Not peculiar to the North Atlantic. 

The same rotatory tendency is observable in the 
other oceans, but not so strikingly as in the North 
Atlantic, because the latter is so hemmed in by land 
as to confine the whirl to definite limits. 

689. Currents from the Arctic Ocean. 

The watei's that flow into the Arctic Ocean find 
egress therefrom in the Arctic Currents that flow, 
one on the East of Greenland, and the other on the 
West, Southward to Labrador, and strike the Gulf- 
Stream East of Newfoundland. 

690. The Horse-Shoe Bend. 

The Horse-Shoe Bend is an enormous flexure 
made in the Gulf-Stream off Newfoundland, by the 
in-pouring Polar currents ; it is the receptacle of in- 
numerable icebergs ; is overhung with dense fogs 
precipitated from the humid air of the Gulf-Stream, 
and is the terror of the navigator. 



SUBMARINE CURRENTS. 

691. Submarine Currents. 

Are known to exist in various parts of the ocean. 
They flow out of the Mediterranean and Eed Seas ; 
one flows into Baffin's Bay, another underlies the 
Gulf-Stream, another flows beneath the Japanese 
Current. 



692. In proof. 

Enormous icebergs are seen driving up Baffin's 
Bay against the outward-bound surface-current, 
and even breaking passage for scores of miles, 
through surface-ice ten feet thick. These are driv- 
en by the northward-bound under-current. 

693. A deep-sea lead. 

Dropped down through the Gulf-Stream into the 
waters beneath, moves Southwest, carried by the 
cold current setting toward the Caribbean Sea; 
enormous icebergs are frequently seen in the Gulf- 
Stream plowing passage to the Southwest, driven 
by the resistless momentum of the moving mass of 
under-ocean. 

694. Sometimes brought to the surface. 

The deep-sea movements are often lifted to the 
surface by shoals and shores. The cold inshore 
currents before mentioned, are simply the uplifted 
edge or hem of the great submarine movements, 
pushed up the acclivity of the sea-bed. 

695. When upon soundings. 

Even though in the tropical ocean, where from 
the shallowness of the water a high temperature 
might be expected, the navigator nearly alwaj^s 
finds a temperature 5° to 10° lower than that of the 
surrounding ocean ; showing that the cold waters 
have been lifted up upon and urged over the sub- 
marine plateau by the deep-sea movement. 

696. Moreover, deep-sea soundings. 

Even beneath the Equator, invariably reveal a 
temperature from 40° downward to 30° ; these cold 
waters must have come, of course, from the Polar 
oceans to exhibit so low a temperature, for the mean 
temperature of the atmosphere at the Equator is 
not lower than 82°. 

697. Submarine currents universal. 

Currents of greater or less rapidity and volume 
exist universally in the masses of the under-ocean; 
for universal deep-sea movements are required to 
complement and make intelligible the universal sur- 
face-movements ; the particular cases specified 



66 



WHY THE OCEAN -CURRENTS EXIST. 



above are cited merely because they have been 
observed and studied. 

698. Their temperatures. 

Submarine currents are sometimes warmer and 
sometimes colder than the surface-waters ; in gene- 
ral the warmer currents are at the surface, but in 
very high latitudes the colder currents are at the 
surface.* 

699. Why are there submarine currents 1 

"What office and duty they may have in the depths 
of the sea we do not know, but they are indispensa- 
ble parts of the great system of oceanic circulation, 
and without them the surface-currents could not ful- 



*I , or a fuller exhibition of these under-currents, see Book Second of Se- 
ries. Several small counter-currents have not been noticed in this brief 
discussion. They will be fully presented in Book Second of Series. 



fill their duties, and the whole system would fall in- 
to confusion and ruin. 



Questions upon Chart No. 1. 

What does the Chart at the beginning of Chapter XII. 
represent 1 

How are the high temperatures denoted 1 The low ? 

What is denoted by the figures with degrees attached 1 

Do they denote the deep-sea or the surface temperatures 1 

What are the different temperatures noted in the line of 
figures off South Carolina % 

What temperatures off North Carolina 1 

How do you account for the low temperatures near the 
coast 1 

Are the temperatures marked on the Chart as high as those 
given in the text 1 

Ans They are not ; because the former are Winter-tem- 
peratures, while the latter are Summer-temperatures. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Measons for the Existence ©f ©ceaii-Ciwrents. 



WHY OCEAN-CURRENTS EXIST. 



700. The first reason for the existence of ocean-currents. 
The proper distribution of heat 



First argument. 



and cold through the oceanic mass is 
effected by the ocean-currents, and 
there is no other instrumentality 
whereby that distribution can be effected. 

701. More definitely. 

The ice formed in the cold oceans is carried by 
currents to the warm, and the tepid waters of the tor- 
rid oceans are carried to the cold : thus the former 



are kept from freezing over, and the latter from 
greatly overheating, which they certainly would do 
but for the currents. 

702. As to the amount of heat carried in a single current. 

The Gulf-Stream carries into the extreme North- 
Atlantic and Arctic Oceans heat enough to keep 
one-hundred and eighteen rivers as large as the 
Mississippi flowing continually boiling hot, or eight 
rivers as hot as molten iron ! * 

* See Book Second of Series. 



WDY THE OCEAN-CURRENTS EXIST. 



6Y 



703. As to the amount of cold. 

The Arctic Current alone that flows down by 
Labrador, reduces the temperature of thousands of 
square leagues of ocean through a range of 15° or 
20°, and through the iinder-oeean pours an almost 
icy temperature into the steaming boiler of the Gulf 
of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. 

704. Icebergs, also. 

Five-hundred icebergs have been counted at once 
in the Arctic Current, bearing down into the Gulf- 
Stream; some of them two miles round and five- 
hundred feet high, and weighing singly upon com- 
putation, 10,000,000,000 of tons. 

705. If there were no currents. 

First, but for this interchange of temperatures, 
the cold oceans would inevitably freeze into glairy 
continents, or solid blocks of ice from surface to 
bottom ; and every living thing in them would 
perish, smothered and frozen. 

706. Secondly, the torrid oceans. 

Would turn to sweltering, steaming caldrons, 
whose prodigious evaporations would drown the 
adjacent lands, and whose high temperature would 
render them unfit for the residence of marine life 

707. No rhetorical exaggeration. 

The foregoing statements are no rhetorical exag- 
geration, but are capable of rigid demonstration ; 
therefore, on the score of heat and cold alone, it is a 
question of life and death to nearly all marine life 
whether there shall be currents or not. 

708. Secondly, the climate of the Earth. 

Is rendered vastly more temper- 
ate and agreeable by the dispersion 
of heat and cold from region to re- 
gion, through the agency of the ocean-currents. 

709. For example. 

The intensely dry climate of Chili and Peru is 
rendered quite tolerable even in the Summer-heats, 
because the air from the sea sweeping over the cold 
current on the coast, is 20° colder than if no cold 
current were there. 



Second argu- 
ment. 



710. Franco and England. 

Though as far North as Canada and Labrador, 
possess a humid, temperate, and genial climate, be- 
cause the neighboring seas covered with the Gulf- 
Stream waters, temper the cold. 

711. Even Norway. 

Is clad with green, and waves with harvests, in 
the latitude of South Greenland cased and horrid 
with eternal ice, because the sea near Norway is 
covered with waters brought by the Gulf-Stream. 

712. Northwestern North America. 

Enjoys a climate softened by the diffused warm 
waters of the Pacific Gulf-Stream; so that it is 
comfortably habitable even in 60° N. Lat., and 
will bear the hardier grains even so close beneath 
the Polar Star. 

713. More generally and universally. 

The capacity of water for heat is 500 times great- 
er than, that of air ; so when 10,000,000 cubic miles 
of tropical ocean heat up 50°, the heat thus ab- 
stracted from the burning torrid clime reduces the 
temperature of 5,000,000,000 cubic miles of atmos- 
phere 50^ ; how amazing and beneficent the dispen- 
sation ! 

711. Borne away to the Frigid Zones. 

The warm water borne away to the Polar realms, 
gives out its heat, and raises the temperature of 
5,000,000,000 cubic miles of atmosphere 50° ; so 
that the subtraction of heat in the one case is equal 
to its addition in the other, and in both cases equal- 
ly a blessed thing, because it makes millions of crea- 
tures comfortable and happy. 

715. Thirdly, the salts of the sea. 

Are re-distributed from the re- 
gions of accumulation by the ocean- 
currents, so that all parts of the sea 
are kept sufficiently saline, and no part left over-sa- 
line. 

716. Where the salts accumulate. 

As before shown, the salts tend to accumulate in 
the warm oceans, therefore these oceans tend to be- 



Third argument. 



68 



WHY THE OCEAN -CURRENTS EXIST. 



come over-saline, and actually would turn to brine, 
were not the tendency corrected. 

717. First correction of the tendency. 

Nature endeavors to correct the tendency, first, by 
storing: the warm oceans with vegetable and animal 
forms that absorb the salts ; but the correction is 
insufficient, because it fails to restore their share of 
salts to the colder oceans, which need their less 
share, just as much as the warm oceans their great- 
er share. 

718. Therefore, second!}'. 

Nature manages so adroitly that the surplus salts 
are made to set currents in motion, which draw off 
from the warm oceans their over-saline waters, and 
pour them into the cold, under-saline oceans, so that 
both are kept fit for plants and animals to live in. 

719. If there were no currents. 

The vegetables and animals in the warm oceans 
would suffer, and perhaps die from overmuch salt, 
though to a certain limit they thrive better the more 
salt there is ; whereas in the cold oceans they would 
suffer from deficiency of salt. How strong, then, 
the reasons for the existence of currents ! 

720. The real importance of this office. 

Inasmuch as the distribution of the salts does not 
touch our immediate interests, we shall probably 
underrate the importance of it ; but to millions up- 
on millions of plants and animals it is a matter of 
life and death; and so God keeps the currents 
moving forever, however indifferent we may be 
about it. 

721. Fourthly, food for fish. 

In the form of infusoria is borne 
in the warm currents tD feed the 
vast swarms of creatures living in 
the cold oceans; whales, walruses, 
seal, and fish like the dust of the hills for multi- 
tude. 

722. Examples. 

Newfoundland's grand restaurant is . crowded 
with hungry cod-fish, hungry millions of mackerel 
swarm upon the George's Shoals, hungry pil- 



Fourtli argu- 
ment. 



chards and herring crowd the British Channels, 
and whitings cram the German Ocean with their 
voracious armies — all seeking the food-treasures 
brought them by the Gulf-Stream. 

723. Whales. 

Gather in schools along the borders of the Gulf- 
Stream, and block up the passages of the Azore 
Isles, seeking the " sea-nettles," little gelatinous ra- 
diate animals bred by billions, and brought to them 
by the Gulf-Stream. 

724. The Japan fisheries. 

The fisheries of Japan are to Asia what New- 
foundland's are to North America ; and for the 
same reason, because the Kuro Siwo brings into 
the shallow depths of that archipelago enormous 
food-supplies for the congregated millions of hun- 
gry fish. 

725. Without the currents. 

The various species preyed upon would die 
where they are bred, and rotting on the flood would 
poison the skies with stench ; and the predatory 
species would starve to death, for they cannot ex- 
plore the warm oceans for food, since it is to them 
as a sea of fire ! 

726. Analogous office of aqueous and atmospheric cur- 
rents. 

Just as the winds bring to the hungry millions of 
plants the carbonic acid which is sweet food for 
them, so do the ocean-currents bring to the hungry 
dwellers in the sea the food they love ; thus do even 
the motions of the dead elements illustrate God's 
loving kindness. 

727. Furthermore, navigation. 

Is powerfully influenced by the 
currents ; voyages may be greatly 
lengthened or shortened, according 
as the currents are taken to advantage or disad- 
vantage. 

728. Their general effect. 

Perhaps, in general, currents obstruct the nav- 
igator more than they help him ; for at best, a cur- 
rent that aids him going one way, will delay him 



Fifth argument: 



WHY THE OCEAN-CURRENTS EXIST. 



69 



going in the other, or compel him to devious and 
tedious by-passages, to avoid it. 

729. More particularly. 

Near islands, reefs, shoals, etc., they expose him 
to the greatest risks encountered on the ocean, cast- 
ing him upon the rocks in spite of his watchfulness 
and skill ; the passage of the Narrows "of Florida 
is more dreaded by the navigator than the crossing 
of the whole of the wintry Atlantic. 

730. Probationary agencies. 

So that the ocean-currents impose upon those 
that do business upon the great waters, perhaps 
the sternest part of their physical probation ; com- 
pelling them to the highest exercise of their facul- 
ties, and making their occupation dignified and 
even sublime. 

731. The conclusion of this argument. 

The currents help the navigator in some instances, 

and in others by laying more responsible duties 

upon him, help educate him, and make him a think- 

ins: as well as working bein°\ So that in this mat- 
es o o 

ter of navigation, a twofold reason obtains for their 
existence. 

732. Lastly, work down the Earth. 
The currents have done more 

than any other single agency in 
working down the Globe to a suit- 
able condition of surface; all the present lands 
have been covered with water, and the currents 
swept over them, as now over the bed of the sea, 
rasping away the roughness thereof. 

733. The duration of the work. 

The work began thousands of ages before man 
was created ; mountains have been worn away, vast 
rents and chasms and abysses have been filled by 
these tireless workers, and so man finds the surface 
of the Earth smoothed off beneath his feet. 

734. Conclusion of the whole argument. 

The reasons for the existence of ocean-currents 
are as strong as the benefits arising from them are 
great; those benefits extend more or less directly 



Sixth argument. 



to every living thing upon the Earth, throughout 
its entire compass of land, water, and air, and 
throughout the whole period of its duration. 



Questions upon the Map of the Ocean-Currents. 

NO. 3. PAGE 64. 

Where is the Pacific Equatorial Current 1 

What is its velocity ? Is it as rapid along the edges ? 

What shows the direction of its flow ? Its breadth? 

What do the interrogation-marks near some of the figures 
signify ? 

Where is the Japan Current 1 Its velocity ? 

Bearing of the waters among the islands on the North of 
Australia ? 

Where is the Indian Equatorial Current ? Its velocity ? 
Its breadth ? 

What is the name of the current in the Northern part of 
the Indian Ocean ? Why a double-headed arrow ? 

How swift is the current at the northern part of Madagas- 
car ? Velocity of the Mozambique Current ? 

What current at the southern point of Africa ? ItsTelocity ? 

Breadth of the Atlantic Equatorial Current ? Its velocity 1 

Where is the Northwest-Branch Current ? Its velocity ? 

Where is the Guinea Counter Current ? Why called Count- 
er Current ? 

Is there a regular current in the Gulf of Mexico ? 
' What current runs out of the Gulf of Mexico ? Its 
depth ? Velocity? What becomes of it ? 

What currents strike the Gulf-Stream from the North at 
Newfoundland ? 

Whence flow the Arctic Currents'? 

J)o any currents flow into the Arctic Ocean ? Where ? 



Questions upon Chart No. 2. 

What does the Chart at the beginning of Chapter XIV. rep- 
resent ? 

How are the high and low temperatures respectively de- 
noted ? 

Is the warmest water at the surface, or deep in the sea 1 

To what depth are temperatures represented ? 

What is the lowest temperature noted ? The highest ? 



70 



RIVERS. 



»„ 








RAPIDS OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 



CHAPTER XV. 



Rivers. Reasons for the Existence of Rivers. Distribution of Rivers. 



TItj causation 
of l'ivers. 



RIVERS. 

735. Rivers the effect of causes. 
Every river in whatever region it 

may be, and of whatever magni- 
tude, from the brooklet that scarce- 
ly can moisten the gills of a minnow, to the stream 
that drives back the tides of the ocean, and anchors 
deep-keeled navies on its shallows — is the effect of 
causes ; no river is because it happens to be. 

736. The two causes of rivers. 

First, a surplus of waters remaining upon the 
land after evaporation and infiltration; * and second- 
ly, a slope of land tending downward from two sides 

* Infiltbation, — the subsidence or " settliDg" of water into the grouDd. 



toward a line of lowest depression ; the line will be 
the channel of the river. 

737. The basin etc. of a river. 

The basin of a river is the entire area drained by 
it and its tributaries; the bed of a river is the gut- 
ter or depression filled by its waters at their ordi- 
nary volume; the channel is the line of greatest 
depth in the bed. 

738. The magnitude, or volume of rivers. 
As a general statement, is pro- 

& . ' . ■ Magnitude of 

portioned to the size of their basins. rivers. 

but varies with the humidity of the 

climate, or still more exactly, with the surplus of 

evaporation and infiltration. 



EIVEKS. 



71 



739. Example. 

The basin of tho Amazon is to that of the Nile 
as 3 to 2, its volume to that of the Nile as 10 to 2 ; 
the Nile flows through a dry, sandy country, where 
its waters are both evaporated and filtrated away ; 
whereas the Amazon flows through forests, wet 
land, and under rainy skies ; hence the dispropor- 
tion. 

740. More definite statement. 

The large surplus of evaporation and infiltration 
makes the Amazon larger than would be expected 
from the size of its basin ; whereas the Nile, by rea- 
son of the small surplus of evaporation and infiltra- 
tion, is much smaller than might be anticipated 
from the extent of its basin. 

741. Constancy of magnitude. 

Rivers are rarely constant in volume ; tropical 
rivers are swollen in the Wet-Season; extra-tropical 
by the Spring snow-melting, and by heavy non-pe- 
riodic rains occurring at any season of the year. 

742. Volume varies just as required. 

Eivers swell and shrink so precisely to the neces- 
sities of the case as to carry off every gallon of sur- 
plus and no more; the most perfect hydraulic en- 
ginery managed with the most consummate skill 
could do the work no better. God's machinery 
always works to perfection. 

743. The volume of rivers, examples. 

The annual volume of waters discharged by the 
Mississippi would cover 363 square miles to the 
depth of 1,000 feet; of the La Plata, 544 square 
miles; of the Amazon, 1,452 square miles to the 
same depth. 

744. No space wasted. 

Universally the volume of rivers is compressed 
into a comparatively narrow compass, so that no 
space is wasted ; a shaving 24 inches wide and ~\ lh 
of an inch thick, planed off from the floor of a hall 
1,000 feet wide, would leave a depression represent- 
ing the ratio of the Mississippi's bed to the breadth 
of North America. 



I 



The flow of riv- 
ers. 



745. The flow, or rapidity of rivers. 

Depends, first, upon the abrupt- 
ness of declivity from their sources 
to their mouths ; and secondly, up- 
on the straightness and smoothness of their chan- 
nels. 

746. In general. 

In a straight, smooth channel a descent of three 
inches to the mile gives a velocity of three miles 
an hour ; a descent of twenty-six feet to the mile 
renders a river unnavigable ; a steeper inclination 
renders it a rapid;' still more abrupt descents, ap- 
proaching the vertical, a cataract. 

747. The flow most rapid, where 1 

Among their mountain-sources, and there it does 
no harm, for the hardness of the land prevents ri- 
parian * ravages ; and navigation is not obstructed, 
for it is not attempted by reason of the small 
amount of water ; hence, also, their lower portions 
are more favorable to navigation at once from great- 
er volume and slower flow of waters. 

748. The deltas of rivers. 
Enormous accumulations of mud 

about their mouths are deposited 
from the sediment borne along by 
the stream ; they are called deltas from their resem- 
blance to the Greek letter Delta. ^ 

749. The amount of mud, examples. 

The Mississippi deposits upon its delta annually 
a mass of sediment that would cover 122 square 
miles one foot deep. The Ganges discharges near- 
ly twice as much, or a volume eighty-two times 
greater than that of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. 
The Hoang-Ho pours out into the Yellow Sea 
2,000,000 cubic feet of mud every hour ; hence the 
turbid color and hence the name of that immense 
estuary. 

750. Kiver-bars. 

Nearly all rivers deposit mud at their mouths in 
greater or less quantity in the form of bars ; the 
mud is deposited at the mouth of the river because 

* Riparian, pertaining to the hanks or borders of rivers. 



Deltas and bars. 



72 



WHY RIVERS EXIST. 




PASSAIC FALLS. 



the waters flow slowly at this point, the sediment 
has time to settle, and the water has not force 
enough to drive it along. 

. 751. Thus rivers are continually at work. 
"Wearing down the lands to a level. The mean 
level of the lands is calculated to be lowered twelve 
inches in 10,000 years by this agency, and the bed 
of the ocean to be raised three inches in the same 
time. 



First argument. 



WHY RIVERS EXIST. 

752. Rivers and the Earth's drainage. 
Rivers are the drains of the 

Earth; drains that dig themselves, 

take care of themselves, and never 

get out of order ; that always are found where they 

are needed, and never where they are not needed, 

and that age after age do their work perfectly. 

753. Dam up a river. 

And in time its basin becomes a bog, a lake, or 
an inland sea. The waters of the Mississippi Riv- 
er if obstructed, would in three years suffice to cov- 
er its entire basin to the depth of one foot; so in- 



dispensable are rivers to the habitability of the 
Earth. 

754. No other means of drainage. 

Since the volume of rivers is made up of such 
waters only as evaporation cannot take into the at- 
mosphere, nor infiltration draw from the surface 
through the secret passages of the ground, there is 
no other possible means whereby these surplus wa- 
ters can be got out of the way than by rivers. 

755. The lands without rivers. 

Without rivers to drain them, the lands would be- 
come uninhabitable morasses, or lakes, or seas ; 
therefore the reasons for the existence of rivers are 
as strong as the habitable necessities of the World 
can make them. 

756. Rivers and commerce. 



Second argument. 



The ocean is the heart, and rivers 
are the arteries of commerce, and 
river-commerce is peculiarly impor- 
tant, since it opens to the center of the lands, and 
thus binds civilizations and nationalities together 
with closer ties, and enriches and cultures them 
with mutual intercourse. 



WHY RIVERS EXIST. 



73 



Third argument. 



757. Example. 

In what would otherwise be the remote and un- 
subdued interior of a vast continent, the Mississip- 
pi has created a vast and swiftly growing civiliza- 
tion, carries back and forth upon its waters hund- 
reds of thousands of travelers, and hundreds of 
millions of dollars in merchandise yearly, has 
adorned its borders with beautiful cities, and as yet 
has only made a beginning. 

758. Till within a few years. 

Man has reaped comparatively few advantages 
from river-commerce, for steam-navigation, alone 
can make it rapid and easy ; so that we must take 
into the account not only the advantages that have 
resulted, but those also th it may result from river- 
commerce in estimating its full importance. 

759. Thirdly, manufacturing. 

Next to commerce the greatest 
civilizer we have, flourishes upon 
unnavigable rivers ; on this very 
account some rivers were left unnavigable through 
falls, rapids, rocks, etc., because such rivers are the 
favorite sites of manufacturing, and because without 
them manufacturing would lack a cheap motor. 

760- The loss and the gain. 

The more unfit a river may be for commerce, the 
better it is for manufacturing ; the power thus fur- 
nished is the cheapest and most available man has ; 
it relieves him and the working animals of an im- 
mense amount of toil, and does a vast amount that 
could not otherwise be done at all ; so that what- 
ever man loses in one way is made up in the other. 

761. The matter could not be bettered. 

If man were to make the World over exactly to 
his mind, he would probably have just as many riv- 
ers obstructed with impetuous rapids and broken 
with tumbling cataracts as now are : deeming the 
manufacturing power thus gained ample compensa- 
tion for the commercial facilities lost. 

762. River-inundations. 

Affect man's interest in two ways; 
first, by an immediate increase of 
his resources ; and second, by laying 



River-overflows 
and their results. 



upon him a heavier burden of labor and care. 

763. First, they benefit him. 

The annual overflows of the Nile, the Orinoco, 
the Amazon, and of many other rivers, create and 
sustain the enormous fertility of the countries bor- 
dering them. 

764. Alluvial regions not now inundated. 

Such alluvial tracts on the borders of rivers as 
are not now subject to inundation, were deposited 
in former ages by the overflowing waters, and owe 
their fertility to this fact. 

765. Secondly, inundations destructive. 

The overflows of rivers are often terribly destruct- 
ive ; sweeping away in sudden and indiscriminate 
ruin the crops of a season, houses, granaries, barns, 
the labor of years, with multitudes of innocent liv- 
ing creatures. 

766. Sometimes hurt the lands. 

They sometimes carry off the choicest soil, and 
sometimes sift vile sand or barren clay upon fertile 
acres, so that scarce brakes and sedge can grow 
upon them. 

767. Against these mischances. 

Man has to guard with sharper vigilance, labor 
with more urgent industry, and direct his labor 
with profounder skill ; hence the vast levees and 
bulwarks erected on the borders of rivers at count- 
less cost, and maintained only by sleepless watch- 
fulness and untiring toil. 

768. These labors. 

Have compelled man to a higher exercise of his 
faculties, and in so far have benefited him, not di- 
rectly, indeed, but through his discipline, his tempo- 
ral probation. 

769. Rivers objects of beauty. 

"Whether trickling from their cold fountain- 
springs, leaping in airy cascades, or foaming in tor- 
rents ; whether rolling voluminous masses from the 
brink of precipices in the many-voiced cataract, or 
marching in silent majesty across the channeled 
breadth of mighty plains, rivers are objects of vari- 
ous and exceeding beauty. 



10 



74 



THE DISTRIBUTION OP RIVERS. 



1 




THE AMERICAN FALLS BY MOONLIGHT. 

770. The fact accordant with God's general plan. 

The same Power that clothes the ground with 
fresh, bright verdure, that paints the flowers with 
brilliant dyes, that kindles the clouds of morning 
and evening with ineffable splendors, has with a like 
exquisite adaptation to the sensibilities of the hu- 
man soul, made even the drains of the Earth beau- 
tiful — ministers to our higher culture, 

771. To sum up the argument. 

In proportion to the benefits direct and indirect 
accruing from rivers to the World, are the reasons 
strong for their existence. 



Oceanic river- 
ysteuie. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF RIVERS. 

772. Rivers classified. 

Eivers may be divided into two general 
classes, Oceanic and Continental; the form- 
er discharging their waters into the sea, the 
latter into inland lakes, swamps, or deserts. 

773. Classification of oceanic rivers. 
Oceanic rivers are classified 

Bj into Systems named after the 
oceans that receive their re- 
pf spective waters. A river-system embraces 
lU both the contained rivers and their combined 
basins. 

jfe 774. Extent of the Atlantic System. 

The Atlantic System embraces upon the 
W*- several Grand Divisions and upon various 
islands, an aggregate of 19,425,000 square 
gj# miles. The combined length of the longest 
twenty-three of its rivers, 35,000 miles. The 
largest three rivers on the Globe belong to 
it, the Amazon, the La Plata, and the Mis- 
sissippi. 

775. What makes the Atlantic System so large 1 

Pirst, the position of the water-shed mount- 
ains of the Americas, that throws nearly all 
their drainage into the Atlantic ; and second, 
the inter-penetration of the Eastern Continent 
by branches of the Atlantic Ocean, securing 
to that ocean a large part of its drainage. 

776. Extent of the Pacific System. 

The Pacific System embraces upon the several 
Grand Divisions and upon various islands, an ag- 
gregate of 11,125,000 square miles; total length of 
its principal rivers 15,000 miles; the longest three 
are the Amoor, the Hoang-Ho, and the Yang-tse- 
Kiang. 

777. Extent of the Indian System. 

The Indian System embraces in the aggregate not 
far from 5,450,000 square miles, about one-fourth 
part so great as the drainage of the Atlantic. The 
combined length of its chief rivers 9,040 miles ; the . 



THE DISTRIBUTION OP RIVERS. 



75 



largest rivers are the Ganges, the Indus, and the 
Brahmapootra. 

778. Extent of the Arctic System. 

The Arctic System embraces in the aggregate 
about 7,400,000 square miles ; combined length of its 
principal streams, 12,595 miles ; its largest rivers are 
the Lena, the Yenesei, and the Obi. 

779. Combined areas of all the oceanic river-systems. 

43,400,000 square miles ; of which 4,500,000 are 
upon islands. 

780. The largest system of continental rivers or inland 
drainage. 



Forms a boot-shaped area of not 

Continental riv- 

less than 5,000,000 square miles in er-systems. 
the central part of Asia. The Oas- 
pian and Aral Seas lie in the ankle, and the toe 
stretches Eastward to Lon. 120° East. 

781. A second vast system of inland drainage. 

Is situated in northern Africa, extending far down 
into South Africa. The northern portion is rather 
a riverless region than an area of inland drainage. 
The southern part contains several large lakes, re- 
ceptacles of the surface-drainage. Its total area 
4,450,000 square miles. 

782. Australian inland drainage. 

Another vast system of inland drainage occupies 
the central regions of Australia, an area of 1,500,- 
000 or 2,000,000 square miles. 200,000 square 



miles of North America, and 270,000 of South 
America, are inland drainage. 

783. Aggregate of the Earth's river-drainage. 

Inland drainage about 11,420,000 square miles; 
oceanic drainage 43,400,000 square miles ; sum to- 
tal 54,820,000 square miles, which is the area of all 
the lands. 



Questions upon the Map of River-Systems. 

NO. 3, PAGE 04. 

How many different river-systems are there in North Amer- 
ica'? 

How are they designated or represented to the eyel 

What are their several areas "? 

Is there any inland drainage in North America 1 

How many drainages are there in South America^ 

How are they respectively designated to the eye 1 

Their several areas 1 

Where is South America's inland drainage 1 

What river-drainage occupies the western part of the Old 
World 1 

To what drainage does Europe chiefly belong "! 

How many drainages has Africa 1 Has Africa any inland 
drainage 1 

Area of Africa's several drainages ■? 

How many drainages has Asia 1 Name them. 

Their respective areas f 

What drainage has Australia t 

What areas have the several drainage-systems of Aus- 
tralia 1 



76 



LAKES. 



WHY LAKES EXIST. 



CHAPTER XVI 






Lakes. Reasons for the Existence of Lakes. Distribution of* Lakes. 



The causation 
of lakes. 



LAKES. 

784. No lake an accident. 
Every lake, whether swelling to 

the vast inland sea upon which the 

commerce of an empire rides and 

is wrecked, or shrinking to the pool which a 

thirsty ox might drain, is the result of antecedent 

causes ; no lake is an accident. 

785. The two causes or antecedent condition of lakes. 
First, a surplus of moisture remaining upon the 

land after evaporation and infiltration ; and second- 
ly, a slope of land descending on all sides to a point 
of lowest depression ; the point will be the bed of 
the lake. 

786. Lakes resemble rivers. 

In all the conditions required for their formation, 
save that the waters of the river converge to a line, 
those of the lake to a. point. The same principle of 
drainage operates in both cases ; in fact, a lake is 
nothing but an obstructed river. 

787. The basin of a lake. 

Comprehends the whole country that contributes 
to its volume ; the bed of a lake, all the tract covered 
by its waters. 

788. The magnitude of lakes. 

Is in general proportioned to the size of the basin, 
but depends on the surplus of evaporation and in- 
filtration ; hence the largest basin may not have the 
largest lake, nor the smallest basin the smallest 
lake. 

789. The Caspian Sea or Lake. 

Has an enormous basin, yet its volume is com- 
paratively small, because evaporation is great by 



reason of the dry climate, and infiltration great on 
account of the sandy soil. 

790. Lake Torrens in Australia. 

■ With a basin of unknown but vast dimensions, is 
little better than a swamp for a large part of the 
year, through the same causes as above. 

791. Salt Lakes. 

Are those whose waters are im- 
pregnated with so large a -propor- 
tion of salts as to be distinctly sa- 
line to the taste ; the waters of all lakes contain 
more or less of salts. 

792. The largest salt lakes. 

Situated in western Asia about the Caspian Sea, 
itself a salt lake, and in the western part of the Unit- 
ed States, seem to be the remnants of evaporated 
seas, from the fact that the whole adjoining country 
is thickly strewed with marine remains. 

793. Smaller salt lakes. 

Owe their salineness to local accumulations, mines 
or masses of salt, or to its general diffusion through 
the soil of the adjoining country. 



WHY LAKES EXIST. 

794. Are lakes of any importance in the scheme of na- 
ture 1 

First, lakes help drain the Earth. Wherever a 
river is not practicable, and there is still a surplus 
of water, the surplus runs down to the lowest point 
in the whole region, gathers into the smallest com- 
pass possible, and thus getting out of the way as 
much as it can, forms a lake. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF LAKES. 



11 



795. The practical result. 

By thus giving up a few square miles to the col- 
lected waters, perhaps ten thousand square miles 
are brought into and kept in an improvable and hab- 
itable condition, that would otherwise be too wet 
and boggy for use. 

796. Commerce flourishes upon large lakes. 

The commerce of the Great North-American 
Lakes vastly exceeds the entire foreign commerce 
of North America, and yet it has not reached a 
hundredth part of its possible greatness. 

797. Lacrine commerce important. 

Lacrine commerce is especially important, be- 
cause it is in the center of regions generally desti- 
tute of great rivers, and remote from the ocean, and 
from which the ordinary means of commercial in- 
tercourse seem in a measure removed. 

798. Small lakes have their uses. 

Every silver-sided minnow, every fresh-water 
snail, every green-coated frog, every spire of water- 
grass, every sharp-edged bulrush, every fragrant 
lily, every trailing-leafed willow, that lives in or 
around a tiny pond, becomes an argument for its 
existence which cannot be gainsayed. 

799. Because of the good they do. 

God has seen fit to create, perhaps millions of lit- 
tle lakelets, every one of which is full of comfort 
and happiness, and is essential to the very life of 
myriads of living creatures ; creatures whose well- 
being is thus visibly an object of care and concern 
to him who made them. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF LAKES. 

800. Lake-Systems. 

Lakes are frequently found clus- 
tered together in considerable num- 
bers over quite extensive regions ; 
these clusters with their basins are 
called Lake-Systems, or Lacrine Systems. 



What a lake- 
system is and is 
not. 



Geographic dis- 
tribution of lakes. 



801. Gomhination of lake-system and river-system. 

The same tract of country not unfrequently be- 
longs to a lake-system and a river-system ; thus a 
large part of the country occupied by the Great 
Lacrine System of North America belongs also to 
the Arctic and the Atlantic river-drainage. 

802. There is no inconsistency in this. 

Because the aggregation of its waters in lakes 
makes the region a lacrine system ; and their ulti- 
mate collection into rivers makes it a river-system. 
Therefore a lake-system is by no means synonymous 
with inland drainage. 

803. The geographic distribution of lakes. 
Lakes are most numerous along 

those parallels of latitude in which 
aqueous deposition * is considerable 
but evaporation limited ; according- 
ly the Lake-Zone of both Continents lies for the 
most part in the mid and high latitudes. 

804. Why so ? 

Because in these latitudes the preponderance of 
cold weather favors aqueous deposition and checks 
evaporation. Moreover, humid winds from the 
tropics bring great quantities of vapor to be depos- 
ited in these latitudes. 

805 The local distribution of lakes. 

Lakes are numerous in mountainous localities, 
because enormous amounts of rain fall in such, 
which, being shed by the rocky surfaces, and being 
prevented from flowing off by the roughness of the 
country, accumulates in the ravines and gorges be- 
low, and constitutes lakes. 

806. We have thus accounted for what 1 

For two universal geographical facts ; namely, 
that lakes are found most numerous in the mid lat- 
itudes, and in mountainous regions ; the two most 
general and comprehensive facts in the distribution 
of lakes. 



* Aqueous Deposition, — Atmospheric moisture precipitated in the form 
of rain, snow, etc. 



78 



DESCRIPTIVE VIEW OF THE OCEANS. 




SEA AND SHORE. 



CHAPTER XVI Ic 



Physico-Descriptive View of the several Oceans. 



807. How mariy oceans are there ■? 

In point of fact, there is only one ocean, but for 
convenience of description, and for ready reference 
to different parts thereof, the universal ocean is sub- 
divided into five oceans. 



808. The names thereof! 

Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Ant- 
arctic The Atlantic is often called the Western 
Ocean; the Pacific the Oriental, or Eastern 
Ocean. 



DESCRIPTIVE VIEW OF THE OCEANS. 



79 



ATLANTIC OCEAN". 



809. The boundaries of the Atlantic Ocean. 



It extends from the Arctic Circle to the Antarc- 
tic Circle, and from the Eastern Continent Westward 
to the "Western Continent. 

810. The dimensions of the Atlantic. 

Length, 9,000 miles ; extreme width, 5,000 miles ; 
least width, 1,750 miles ; 27,000,000 square miles 
in area ; depth varies from sixty feet on the 
Banks of Newfoundland, to depths unfathomed, 
but over six miles. 

811. The form of the Atlantic's basin. 

Is that of an immense longitudinal valley of 
quite uniform breadth, stretching from one Polar 
Circle to the other. 

812. Temperature of the Atlantic. 

The Atlantic is characterized by extremes of tem- 
perature ; its tropical part is warmer, its extra-trop- 
ical colder than the corresponding parts of the Pa- 
cific; its narrowness causes the influence of conti- 
nental climatic extremes to be more sensibly felt 
than in the other oceans ; moreover, it is open to 
Polar currents upon both the North and South, as 
no other ocean is ; hence its greater range of tem- 
perature. 

813. Its equator of heat. 

The line of greatest average heat in the waters 
of this ocean, 84°, lies for the most part 5° North 
of the terrestrial Equator. Eationale : land pre- 
ponderates in the Northern Hemisphere, hence its 
temperatures in low latitudes are high, and naturally 
bring the thermal equator of this narrow ocean 
considerably North of the Line. 

814. Soilness of the Atlantic. 

The Atlantic is Salter than the Pacific because it 
receives more rivers ; the immediate and local effect 
of rivers is to diminish the oceanic salineness, its 
remote and general influence is to increase the sa- 
lineness. On the same account the North Atlantic 
is Salter than the South Atlantic. 



815. The North and South Atlantic as respects fish. - 

Fish are more abundant and various in the North 
than in the South Atlantic. In the former, the 
whale, herring, cod, and pilchard fisheries are pros- 
ecuted; in the latter, only the whale fishery. Ea- 
tionale : the North Atlantic has more banks, shoals, 
and islands, upon and about which fish find feeding- 
grounds ; moreover, the main part of the Equatorial 
Current is deflected into the North Atlantic with 
all its food-supplies. 

816. Polar ice. 

Comes 8° nearer the Line in the South than in 
the North Atlantic ; the bergs and fields of the 
former are larger than of the latter. The bergs 
are sometimes ten miles long and one hundred feet in 
average height ; the fields often one hundred miles 
long and from ten to forty feet thick. 

817. The Atlantic is noted. 

First, for its great length as compared with its 
breadth ; secondly, for the Sargasso Sea, an area 
of several million square miles in the North Atlan- 
tic, covered with Fucus nutans, or " Gulf- Weed," a 
sort of plant that grows in the water. 

818. Thirdly, winds. 

The Atlantic is noted for the irregularity of its 
winds, and the violence of its gales ; a characteristic 
itself owing to the narrowness of the ocean, which 
makes the disturbing influences of the land felt 
across its entire breadth. 

819. The Atlantic Trade-wind, for example. 

The Trade-wind of the Atlantic is turned back to 
supply the strong draught setting toward the Sa- 
hara Desert in the Summer time; the disturbance 
is felt half-way across the ocean. 

820. In spite of these irregularities. 

The Trade-winds prevail pretty generally over the 
tropical parts of this ocean ; and the southwest 
Eeturn-Trades of the North-Temperate Zone so 
preponderate that voyages to Europe are made in 
twenty-three days, but return-voyages occupy forty 
days. 



80 



DESCRIPTIVE VIEW OP THE OCEANS. 



821. The Atlantic winds unduly estimated. 

The irregularity and violence of the winds of the 
Atlantic are probably over-estimated, because this 
ocean is the thoroughfare of the World's commerce, 
and especially because that commerce is brought 
in contact with the furious tempests of the Gulf- 
Stream. 

822. Whereas the Pacific Gulf-Stream. 

About which equally terrible and frequent tem- 
pests prevail, is not at all notorious for them, be- 
cause commerce does not frequent the region, and 
of course does not suffer from them. 

823. In point of importance. 

The Atlantic Ocean is and always must be pre- 
eminent among the oceans, because the great habit- 
able plains of the Earth upon which alone extensive 
empires can find room, lie upon its slopes, and be- 
cause it reaches into the continents with so many 
arms, receives the waters of so many mighty rivers, 
and thus draws into its commerce the resources 
and civilization of the World. 



PACIFIC OCEAN. 

824. Boundaries of the Pacific Ocean. 

It extends from the Arctic to the Antarctic Cir- 
cle, and from the Western Continent Westward to 
the Eastern. 

825. The dimensions of the Pacific. 

Greatest length from East to West, 12,000 miles ; 
breadth from North to South, 9,000 miles; its area, 
78,000,000 square miles. Its greatest depths are 
along a line running Northeast and Southwest in 
its eastern part. It is comparatively shallow over 
the whole of the Great Oriental Archipelago. 

826. Temperature of the Pacific. 

The Pacific is characterized by uniformity of 
temperature ; its tropical parts are cooler, its extra- 
tropical warmer than the corresponding parts of -the 
other oceans. Rationale : its vastness makes it 
more completely oceanic, and hence less variable in 



temperature ; moreover, the regularitj' of its cur- 
rents effects a more uniform distribution of temper- 
atures. 

827. The Pacific's ice-drift. 

There is no Polar ice-drift in the North Pacific, 
the shallowness and narrowness of Behring's Straits 
and the opposing current preventing the ingress of 
ice from the Arctic Ocean. The South Pacific re- 
ceives enormous masses from the Antarctic Ocean. 

828. Salineness of the Pacific. 

The Pacific is not so salt as the Atlantic, and 
not so salt as the Indian Ocean by nearly one- 
fourth part of the average oceanic saltness. 

829. The Pacific is noted. 

First, for the regularity of its winds, currents, 
and tides ; this characteristic is itself owing to the 
immense expanse of this ocean, and its consequent 
freedom from the disturbing influences of the lands. 
Hence navigation upon the Pacific is famed among 
seamen for its ease and tranquillity ; and hence the 
name of the ocean, the Pacific, or peaceful. 

830. Secondly, archipelagoes. 

The archipelagoes of the Pacific are so extensive, 
and are composed of islands so vast, that they are 
sometimes classed together as a separate Grand Di- 
vision, called Oceanica. The existence of these ar- 
chipelagoes might be anticipated, since the larger 
the ocean, the greater the number of out-crop- 
ping plateaus and mountains. 

831. Thirdly, volcanoes. 

The Pacific is noted for the stupendous chain of 
volcanoes that stretches like a burning belt around 
its eastern and -western coasts, forming an immense 
volcanic semi-circle. 

832. Two popular errors. 

The common inference that the waters of the Pa- 
cific are higher than those of the Atlantic, based 
upon the fact of the constant current round Cape 
Horn, and of the higher level in the Gulf of Pana- 
ma than in the Gulf of Mexico — is entirely incorrect. 
Also the notion that Cape-Horn tempests are the 
severest known, is groundless ; they may seem so 



DESCRIPTIVE VIEW OF THE OCEANS, 



81 



to the navigator who has just come from the Trade- 
wind regions of this serene ocean.* 

833. As respects branches or indentations. 

The Pacific has no considerable indentations on 
the Western Continent, and but very few harbors 
thereon suitable for commerce ; whereas the East- 
ern Continent sends out into it numerous and large 
peninsulas, and receives it in enormous indenting 
gulfs and seas. 

831. Hence its other name. 

Hence the Pacific, from both geographical and 
commercial connections and considerations, is called 
the Eastern Ocean, i. e., the ocean of the Eastern 
Continent. 

835. As respects importance. 

The Pacific Ocean always will be of vastly less 
importance on the scale of civilization than the At- 
lantic. It has few harbors on the American coast, 
and no broad and fertile country back of them. 
China is the only region on the Pacific Ocean where 
an expanded empire can establish itself. 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 

836. Boundaries of the Indian Ocean. 

It extends from Asia to the Antarctic Circle, and 
from the Indian Archipelago on the East, to Africa 
on the West. 

837. Dimensions of the Indian Ocean. 

Greatest length from East to West, 6,602 miles ; 
greatest breadth, 6,394 miles; area, 20,000,000 
square miles. 

838. Temperature of the Indian Ocean. 

The mean temperature of the Indian Ocean is 
higher than that of any other ocean ; first, because 
it is open to Polar currents only on the South ; and 
secondly, because it is closely hemmed in by tropi- 
cal lands, and is therefore swept by winds of very 
high temperature. Its equator of heat has a tem- 
perature of 86°, 3° higher than that of the Pacific, 
and 2° higher than that of the Atlantic. 

* See Book Second of Series. 



839. Rain-falls and saltness. 

The prodigious rain-falls received upon this ocean, 
and more especially upon the bordering lands, are 
due to the high temperature of the waters, and the 
consequent copious evaporation. Hence, also, the 
extreme saltness of its waters, owing to the large 
residuum of salts left in the process of evaporation. 

840. The Indian Ocean is noted. 

First, as has been already implied, for the high 
temperature and saltness of its waters, for its im- 
mense evaporations and heavy rain-falls. 

841. Secondly, Monsoons. 

The Indian Ocean is noted for its system of Mon- 
soons or Season- Winds, and for its tremendous hur- 
ricanes. These hurricanes owe their peculiar vio- 
lence to the high temperature of the atmosphere 
over this ocean, and to its position with respect to 
the adjacent sun-burned continents.* 

842. As respects importance. 

The Indian Ocean might be made of vastly more 
importance as respects commercial uses than it now 
is. The country about it possesses enormous re- 
sources ; numerous harbors open upon the ocean, 
and gigantic rivers pour into it ; its winds are quite 
constant and are very strong ; no part of it is barred 
by rigors of climate ; but its commercial capabilities 
are put to comparatively little use. 



THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 

813. Boundaries of the Arctic Ocean. 

It is situated within a circular area, 3,266 miles 
in diameter within the Arctic Circle ; its greatest 
length or breadth cannot, of course, exceed 3,266 
miles. 

844. Its precise area. 

Is unknown, because it cannoi be ascertained how 
much land lies within the Arctic Circle ; 3,000,000 
square miles out of the 9,841,000 which are con- 
tained within the Circle, have been determined by 
actual exploration to be ocean. 

* See Book Secoud of Series. 



11 



82 



DESCRIPTIVE VIEW OF THE OCEANS. 



845. This ocean is noted. 

For the enormous ice-masses in the form of fields, 
floes, broken ice, and bergs, that forbid its naviga- 
tion, and to a large extent even its exploration. 

846. This ice is not found. 

On the North of Europe, and not on the North 
of Asia in the Summer, owing to the influx of warm 
waters from the Gulf-Stream. North of Bearing's 
Straits also, quite a large area is kept more or less 
open by the warm current setting through the 
Straits. 

847- The ice escapes. 

By the currents setting out of this ocean between 
Iceland and Greenland, and down Baffin's Bay ; 
these being the only channels of egress for the ice, 
are choked and covered therewith all the year. 



THE ANTARCTIC OCEAN". 

848. Boundaries of the Antarctic Ocean. 

It lies within the Antarctic Circle ; how much 
land is situated in the South-Polar Zone is entirely 
unknown, and hence the precise area of the ocean 
is unknown. 

849. The indications as to land. 

Are that a large triangular continent is centered 
at the South Pole, the projecting vertices of which 
have been outlined, but whose general contour can- 
not be determined by reason of the ice. 

850. In regard to the Antarctic's ice. 

This ocean is famed for the tremendous and almost 
boundless fields and packs of ice floating from it into 
the oceans on the North. Such is their size that 
ships have skirted their borders for weeks, and have 
been encompassed for months in the wilderness of 
floes and broken ice that surround the larger masses ; 
in fact, the ice-islands have been repeatedly taken 
for earth-islands and for continents ! 

851. Why larger than those of the Arctic Ocean % 

Because the bergs and fields of Antarctic ice 
have fewer obstructions to overcome in reaching the 



main ocean, and therefore present themselves in 
their full and native magnitude ; not having so many 
shallow and crooked channels through which to 
force passage. 

852. Where and how are icebergs formed % 

On the land only ; glaciers, immense masses of 
ice, snow, and water commingled, fill up valleys near 
the sea, and growing or flowing out over it, are 
broken off in vast bulks that make icebergs. 

853. Inference from the Antarctic's icebergs. 

From the fact of icebergs in the Antarctic Ocean, 
it follows that there must be land in it, and from the 
number of the bergs there must be considerable 
land to afford space for the making of them. 

854. As respects importance, what of the Polar Oceans. 
Both of the Polar Oceans might be displaced by 

land, and man's immediate interests suffer little from 
the change. Walled in by ice, and formidable for 
terrible rigor of climate, navigation in them is re- 
duced to a precarious chase after blubber-bearing 
monsters, or to a life-squandering search for a 
" Northwest Passage" or an " Open Ocean." 

855. Notwithstanding all this. 

These oceans are indispensable to the maiyvtenance 
of nature in its present conditions ; and the removal 
of them would herald and necessitate the destruc- 
tion of the present orders of life, and of the exist- 
ing state of things.* 



Questions upon the Map of the Oceans. 

NO. 2, PAGE 43. 

Dimensions of the Pacific Ocean 1 

Where is the line of great depths % 

Where is the Great Archipelago? Do you understand the 
depths to be very great in this archipelago 1 

Where is the most easterly tract of sinking sea-bed 1 

What is its area 1 What surrounds New Caledonia 1 

Are the Solomon's Isles rising or sinking 1 ? 

What island-systems at the southeast and northeast points 
of the Pacific f 



* See Book Second of Series. 



DESCRIPTIVE VIEW OF THE OCEANS. 



83 



Dimensions of tbe Atlantic Ocean ? 

Greatest known depth ? Where 1 

Depth, Lat. 15° South, Lon. 22° West? Depth on the 
Grand Banks ? 

Depth South of Greenland ? At the Azores ? 

Depth of the Gulf of Mexico ? Of Baffin's Bay ? 

Depth of the Mediterranean Sea ? Of the North Sea ? Of 
the Black Sea ? Of the Bay of Biscay ? 



Dimensions of the Indian Ocean ? 

Depth of the Red Sea ? Of the Caspian Sea ? 

Dimensions of the Polar Oceans ? 

Why do we not know their exact size ? 



Questions upon the Oceanic Ice-Drift. 

MAP 1, PAGE 25. 

How far South does ice float in the North Atlantic ? 
To what point does most of it come ? 



What brings it there ? 

What is the Horse-Shoe Bend ? What makes it? 

Does ice float down the eastern side of the Atlantic ? 

Why not ? Which way do the currents set on that side 1 

Does any ice come from Baffin's Bay ? 

Does ice float through Behring's Straits into the N. Pacific 1 

Why not ? Which way does the current set ? 



How far North does ice float in the South Pacific ? 

Where does it come farthest North ? 

What brings it so far North at that point ? 

What throws the ice-drift line toward the Pole, Southeast 
of South America ? 

What soi't of a current is there, cold or warm ? 

What carries the ice so far down toward Africa ? 

What repels it Southeast of Africa ? 

What, then, determines the ice-drift chiefly ? 

From which Polar Ocean does it appear that the ice can 
escape most readily ? 




PART III. 



THE ELEMENTS OE CLIMATE 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Temperature. The Causes thereof. Modifications of Temperature. 



Definition and 
elements of cli- 
mate. 



TEMPERATURE. 

856. The climate of a country. 
Is its prevailing condition with 

respect to heat, moisture, winds, 
rains, storms, etc. The three most 
important elements of climate are 
Temperature, Winds, and Rains. 

857. Why most important 1 

Because the habitableness of the Earth is largely 
and chiefly dependent upon heat and moisture, and 
their equitable distribution by winds. 

858. Precisely what is here referred to by the word tem- 
perature % 

The temperature or heat of the 
atmosphere at. the surface of the 
Earth. The word, as here used, 
has no reference to the heat of the 
land, or water, or of the atmosphere at great eleva- 
tions, but at the surface of the Earth only. 

859. Why dwell upon the temperature at this particular 
point or level s 

Because plants, animals, and man, all organic life, 
are exposed to this particular temperature, and are 



Definition and 
causes of the tem- 
perature of the 
Earth. 



Earth's internal 
thermal condition. 



dependent upon its suitableness for comfort and 
life. 

860. What determines the temperature of the Earth 1 
First, its internal condition in point of heat; sec- 
ond, the amount of heat received from the Sun; 
third, the amount of heat received from the fixed 
stars. 

861. While the Earth was all molten. 
Its surface-temperature was of 

course like that of a glass-furnace, 
because of the volumes of heat 
poured forth from the melted matter into the at- 
mosphere. 

862. But the Earth has cooled so much. 

That its mass no longer sends forth any heat 
into the atmosphere; and therefore the temper- 
ature of the atmosphere has ceased to be sensibly 
and actively modified by the Earth's internal heat. 

863. How, then, can temperature be said to depend upon 
that internal heat 1 

If the mass of the Earth were to cool down yet 
more, then the temperature of the Earth at its sur- 
face would fall in proportion ; so that the tempera- 



TEMPERATURE. 



85 



Heat from the 
Sun and fixed 
stars. 



ture quiescently depends upon that internal heat, 
even though it is not actively modified by it. 

864. Has the Globe stopped cooling ? 

The Earth has not cooled down any for at least 
twenty-five hundred years, and probably none for 
many thousands of years.* 

865. What stopped its cooling 1 
The heat received from the Sun 

and the fixed stars; which latter, 
indeed, are suns themselves ; so that 
stellar heat is solar heat. 

866. How much heat is received yearly from our Sun 1 

Heat enough to melt a stratum of ice over the 
whole Earth one-hundred and three feet thick ; or 
measured still otherwise, enough to raise the tem- 
perature of the Earth from 60° below zero to 59^° 
above. 

867. How much is received yearly from the fixed stars 1 
Enough to melt a stratum of ice 83i feet thick, 

and covering the entire Globe. The stars shine 
day and night alike, and with full perpendicular 
force upon all parts of the Sphere, hence the amount 
of their heat. 

868. This solar-and-stcllar heat does what ? 

It actively, sensibly, and measurably modifies and 
elevates the temperature of the Earth, so that hence- 
forth we shall consider it alone as determining the 
Earth's temperature. 

869. How the Earth's temperature is raised. 

First, about one-fourth of the 
heat that attempts to come down 
through the Earth's atmosphere 
from the Sun and fixed stars, is 
detained in the atmosphere, and consequently raises 
the temperature thereof. 

870. How is this fact known 1 

On the top of lofty mountains the direct heat of 
the Sun is considerably greater than at the surface 
of the Earth. Thus, upon the top of Teneriffe the 

* See Second Book of Series. 



How the Sun and 
star heat raises 
the temperature. 



thermometer, at midday, in the direct sunlight, will 
indicate the temperature of 212°. 

871. This fact shows what 1 ? 

That more of direct heat from the Sun is receiv- 
ed in the higher strata of the atmosphere than 
reaches the lower, and therefore, that some heat 
must be detained in passing through the atmos- 
phere. 

872. The practical importance of this fact. 

If the atmosphere did not detain any of the di- 
rect sun-heat, then bodies at the surface of the 
Earth would be heated to at least 212° ; vegetation 
would all be boiled to death, and every animal be 
killed with the sunstroke. 

873. The remaining three-fourths of the heat. 

Reach the surface of the Earth ; some of it is 
immediately reflected from various objects, and the 
rest is absorbed. 

874. What then becomes of it 1 

That which is reflected passes off from the Earth 
toward the etherial regions, warming the atmos- 
phere on its passage ; that which is absorbed, having 
heated the surface of the Globe, is radiated from 
the heated bodies, follows the reflected heat, and, 
heating the atmosphere on its passage, is dispersed 
in space. 

875. Thirdly, immediate contact. 

The heated bodies raise the temperature of the 
air somewhat by immediate contact ; but the tem- 
perature is raised chiefly by the heat radiated from 
the heated bodies. 

876. What seems curious in this matter 1 

That the heat radiated from terrestrial matter 
should raise the temperature of the atmosphere so 
much more than the same heat when coming from 
the Sun and passing through the very same atmos- 
phere. 

877. Is there anything analogous to this 1 

A plate of glass suffers the direct heat of the Sun 
to pass through itself readily, so that the glass is 
not heated by it ; but the same plate of glass hung 



86 



MODIFICATIONS OF TEMPERATURE. 



before a body heated by the Sun, will not suffer the 
heat, radiated from that body, to pass through itself, 
but will detain the heat, and will therefore itself be- 
come heated. 

878. The atmosphere, like the plate of glass. 
Permits the direct sun-heat to pass through its 

mass, and accordingly is not heated, but detains the 
radiated hent at the surface of the Earth, just where 
it is needed, and is heated thereby. 

879. Importance of this quality. 

This quality of the atmosphere is exceeding- 
ly important, for if the atmosphere could detain 
the direct heat so that it could not reach the Earth, 
or could not detain the radiated heat, and become 
thereby heated, we should perish with cold. 

880. Earth's temperature raised in three modes, then. 
First, by the direct passage of heat through the 

atmosphere ; secondly, by radiation and reflection 
from the Earth's surface ; thirdly, by the direct con- 
tact of the air with heated bodies. 

881. To what point is the Earth's temperature raised 1 

The temperature of the whole 
Globe at its surface is on the aver- 
age 59j-° above zero on the scale 
of Fahrenheit. This has no reference to the temper- 
ature of the lands or of the waters, but of the atmos- 
phere at the Eartlis surface. 

882. The total amount of elevation of temperature. 

Experienced by the Earth, is about 119° ; for 
59° is 119° above — 60°, the supposed temperature 
of space about the Earth. 



Average temper- 
ature of the Earth. 



MODIFICATIONS OF TEMPERATURE. 

883. what have we considered thus far in this chapter 1 
The sources and amount of the heat received by 

the Earth, the modes of its operation, and the aver- 
age temperature produced thereby. 

884. What shall we now consider 1 

The modifications of that average or general tem- 
perature, which result in or rather constitute the so- 



First modifica- 
tion. 



called Varieties of Climate ; and shall also consider 
the physical causes of those modifications. 

885. The first modification of terrestrial temperature. 

Arises from the ovalness of the 
Eartlis orbit, in virtue of which the 
Earth is 3,000,000 miles nearer the 
Sun at one season than another. 

886. In consequence of this fact. 

The direct, mid-day, mid-summer heat of the 
Southern Hemisphere is greater than the direct, 
mid-day, mid-summer heat of the Northern Hemi- 
sphere, by about one-fifteenth of its whole intensity. 

887. But, a shorter Summer. 

During the Summer of the Southern Hemisphere, 
while the Globe is nearer the Sun than the average, 
it moves faster, and thus the Summer of the South- 
ern Hemisphere is shorter than of the Northern 
Hemisphere, by about eight days. 

888. Consequently, what of the Summer-heats ? 

In consequence of this unequal length of Sum- 
mer, both Hemispheres receive very nearly equal 
amounts of heat during that Season; for although 
the direct heat of the Sun is more intense in the 
Summer of the Southern Hemisphere, the Summer 
of the Northern Hemisphere is longer. 

889. How is it in Winter 1 

The Winter of the Southern Hemisphere is long- 
er than the Winter of the Northern, so that its ex- 
tremes of cold tend to be greater ; but probably 
this tendency is corrected by the overplus of Sum- 
mer-heat, so that on the average of the whole year, 
the one Hemisphere gets as much heat as the other. 

890. Amount of the modification in question. 

The total effect exerted upon terrestrial tempera- 
ture by the ovalness of its orbit, is, that the direct 
Summer-heat is greater in the Southern Hemi- 
sphere, and the extremes of Winter-cold likewise 
tend to be greater in the same Hemisphere. But 
the average of temperature between the two Hem- 
ispheres is not affected at all. 



MODIFICATIONS OP TEMPERATURE. 



87 



891. The second modification of terrestrial temperature 
Arises from the inclination of the 

Earths axis to the plane, of its orbit : 
an important modification, amount- 
ing to the entire production of the 
Change of Seasons. 

892. Draw and explain the diagram illustrating the change 
of Seasons. 



Second modifica- 
tion of the Earth's 
average tempera- 
ture. 



In March and September, it appears that the Sun 
shines just to the Poles, he will therefore be vertical 
at the Equator, and hence it will be Summer there. 
In June he will be vertical at the Tropic of Cancer, 
and the Northern Hemisphere will therefore have 
Summer. In December he will be vertical at Cap- 
ricorn, and the Southern Hemisphere will have 
Summer. 





^V 




Third modifica- 
tion. 



893. The third modification. 

Is due to the shape of the Earth. 
In consequence of that shape, when 
the Sun is over the Equator, eight- 
thousand rays fall upon a given area beneath, where- 
as upon an equal space at the Poles, only five rays 
are received. 

894. Accordingly, the temperatures. 

If the influence of the shape of the Earth alone 
be considered, the temperature at the Poles would 
be to that at the Equator as 5 to 8,000, or 1 to 
1,600. So that it appears that the shape of the 
Earth modifies or tends to modify its temperature 
very greatly, 



895. Draw and explain the diagram illustrating the influ- 
ence of the Earth's shape upon its temperature. 




S N represent the Poles ; E Q the Equator ; the 
dotted line the height of the atmosphere ; A B and 



88 



MODIFICATIONS OF TEMPERATURE. 



C T> equal beams of heat falling respectively at the 
Equator and in Lat. 45°. 

896. What it shows. 

It shows that the beam A B falls upon a smaller 
surface than the beam C D, therefore the space A B 
will be hotter than the space C D ; hence it is hot- 
ter at the Line than in Lat. 45°. Moreover, the 
ray that passes by the North Pole barely touches 
the Earth; hence the extreme cold. 

897. Moreover, depth of atmosphere. 

The beam C D and the ray P N pass through a 
greater depth of atmosphere than A B ; hence anoth- 
er cause of cold at the points C ~D and N, or in 
Lat. 45° and at the Pole; the ray P N penetrates 
a forty-five times greater depth of atmosphere than 
A B, and is diminished in intensity thereby about 
one-thousand three-hundred times. 



898. The fourth modification. 

The fourth modification of the 
Earth's general temperature is due 
to the various distribution of the 
Earth's surface into land and sea. 



Fourth modifi- 
cation. 



899. Land exposed to the Sun. 

Land when exposed to the Sun becomes rapidly 
heated upon its surface, but upon the withdrawal of 
the Sun, the heat speedily escapes because it is at 
the surface only, and the temperature falls sudden- 
ly and to a low figure. 

900. Hence continental or land climates. 

Are noted for extremes, for a heat in Summer and 
a cold in Winter, alike intolerable. They are the 
real excessive climates of the Earth. The annual 
range of temperature in central Asia is 130°, in cen- 
tral North America 120°. 

901. Water when exposed to the Sun. 

Instead of heating upon its surface alone, be- 
comes, in the manner shown in Answer 571, heat- 
ed to considerable depths ; when the Sun withdraws, 
whether for an hour, for a night, or for a Season, this 
heat is frugally and slowly dispensed, and the sever- 
ity of cold is thereby mitigated. 



902. Seat also mitigated. 

The water, by absorbing the heat of Summer, 
tempers the oppressiveness of that Season, storing 
away 'for use the burning heats that would other- 
wise be sufficient to distress and even destroy multi- 
tudes of living things. 

903. So that oceanic or sea climate. 

Is noted for its equableness, for the absence of ex- 
tremes ; it is the real temperate climate of the Earth. 
Accordingly, small islands situate far out upon the 
ocean in some cases experience an annual range of 
temperature of not more than 10° ; as the Society 
Islands, for example. 

904. Sea-board countries. 

Over which winds from the ocean prevail, tire in- 
variably characterized by equability of climate; the 
climate may be warm or cold, but it is uniform. 

905. Example in illustration. 

The annual range of temperature in western Eu- 
rope, over which the southwest winds of the Atlan- 
tic prevail, is only 70°, and that, too, in the very 
same latitude with Central Asia, where the annual 
range is 130°. The former has an oceanic, the lat- 
ter a continental climate. 

906. Further example. 

The yearly range of temperature on the coast of 
the United States is 90° ; whereas in the same lati- 
tude in the interior, the range is 120°. 

907. The fifth modifier of terrestrial temperature. 

Is, elevation above the level of the 
sea. Since the atmosphere detains 
the heat at the surface of the Earth, 
the temperature is higher there than at any other 
level; upon ascending 300 feet, the annual temper- 
ature falls 1° ; 595 feet, 2°; 872 feet, 3° ; etc. 

908. Mountains and table-lands. 

Even at the Equator mountains three miles high 
are covered with eternal snow, and their ravines are 
filled with frightful glaciers. Highly elevated table- 
lands are notorious for cold. Thibet, whose aver- 
age elevation is 12,000 feet, is pinched with dread- 



Fifth modifica- 
tion. 



THE STABILITY OF TERRESTRIAL TEMPERATURE. 



89 



Sixth modifica- 
tion. 



fill frosts, and is buried in snow for half the year, 
though in the latitude of the Barbary States flow- 
ing in wine and oil, and nourishing the tropical 
palm. 

909. The sixth modifier of terrestrial temperature. 

Is, the slope of a country, or the 
aspect which it presents to the Sun. 
In the Northern Hemisphere, the 
warmest exposure, or slope, is to 
the Southwest, the coldest to the Northeast. 

910. The slopes of the Alps. 

Looking toward Italy, are waving with growing- 
corn and rustling with vine-leaves, at a period of 
the year when the northern slope is coated with ice ; 
because upon the former the Sun shines perpendic- 
ularly as upon the Sahara's sands, upon the latter 
at the same angle as on the snows of Nova Zembla. 



911. Draw and explain the diagram illustrating the effect 
of slope upon temperature. 




The beam C D falls upon the Equator-ward 
slope of the mountain as perpendicularly as the 
beam A B falls upon the surface of the Equator, 
and hence an Equatorial temperature is induced ; 
whereas the dotted line falls on the northern slope of 
the mountain at the same angle as a ray falls nearly 
at the Pole, and hence a Polar temperature prevails. 



CHAPT 



XIX 



The Stability of Terrestrial Temperature. Isotherms* 



Re-statement of 
facts. 



STABILITY OF TEMPEBATTTBE. 

912. How far have we discussed temperature 1 

We have considered first, the 
general temperature of the Earth, 
the sources and amount of the heat 
which determines it, the modes in 
which that heat raises the temperature, and the 
point to which the temperature is raised. 

913. Secondly, modifications. 

We have considered the modifications of that gen- 
eral temperature, together with the causes that pro- 



duce them ; and have thus shown the origin of the 
Varieties of Climate. 
914. Sole and total effect of the modifications. 
The total and entire effect of the modifications 
is simply to vary the distribution of that heat, and 
thus to produce all the varieties of climate found 
upon the Earth. 

915 Stability of the supply of heat. 

The three grand sources of heat 
before mentioned, remain stable 
from age to age ; the internal heat 
of the Earth, the heat of the Sun, and the heat of 



I Stability of the 
supply of heat. 



12 



90 



ISOTHERMS. 



A particular 
case of climatic 
instability. 



the fixed stars. Therefore it follows that terres- 
trial TEMPERATURE IS STABLE also.* 

916. What, then, are we sure of? 

Of the present average temperature upon the 
Globe, so long as the present constitution of things 
continues ; a fact of unspeakable importance, since 
the rise or fall of terrestrial temperature through 
only one score of degrees would exert the most 
disastrous influence upon the vegetable and animal 
occupants of the Earth. 

917. For example. 

Let the temperature of the Earth fall so far that 
the average temperature of the under- ocean be re- 
duced only 12°, and it would turn to ice, and all 
things perish, both in it, and upon the land for want 
of rain. 

918. The climate of a. particular country. 
Notwithstanding the stability of 

the Earth's temperature, the cli- 
mate of a particular country may 
not always be the same ; cultiva- 
tion, the clearing of forests, the draining of marsh- 
es, the reclaiming of sandy, desert tracts, modify 
climate. 

919. In detail, forests. 

Forests, for example, shade the ground from the 
heats of Summer, and check the escape of heat in 
Winter; hence the removal of forests makes both 
the heat and the cold more severe, — the Summer 
hotter, and the "Winter colder. 

920. Lagoons, bogs, marshes, etc. 

Absorb heat in Summer, and freezing in Winter, 
give out heat ; hence the draining of them makes 
the climate more excessive, i. e , both heat and cold 
more intense. 

921. On the other hand, deserts. 

Desert tracts heat and cool more rapidly than or- 
dinary cultivated surfaces ; hence the intolerable 
heat of tropical deserts, and the not less intolerable 
cold of extra-tropical deserts : consequently the re- 
claiming of deserts renders climate less excessive. 

*See Book Second of Series. 



922. The changes, how great 1 

The changes thus induced are very limited at the 
most, and in no way infringe upon the general char- 
acter or stability of terrestrial temperature. The 
most that man can effect is a mere trifle, measured 
upon nature's gigantic scale. 

923. Precisely what is meant by stability of temperature. 

That the average temperature of the Earth will 
not rise above and will not fall below the average 
of heat and cold now experienced upon the Globe. 
It is not meant that there are no varieties of temper- 
ature upon the Earth ; for in fact, temperature 
ranges both above and below the average point. 

924. The limits of the range of temperature. 

The extremes are 169°, the Sun shining upon 
tropical-desert sands ; and, — 120°, the severest coid 
ever noted in the Polar regions. Total range from 
extreme to extreme, 289° ; from average Polar to 
average Tropical temperature, 80° ; i. e , from 0° 
to 80°. 



ISOTHEEMS. 

925. What are isotherms 1 

Lines drawn round the Globe through places 
having the same average annual temperature. 

926. The thermal equator. 

Or line of maximum heat, 82|° for the year, does 
not coincide with the terrestrial Equator save at two 
points, 103° 50' E., and 149° 29' W. Lon. 

927. Its chief deviations from the terrestrial Equator. 
Occur over the land-locked, and consequently 

highly heated portion of the Indian Ocean; over 
the sandy deserts of Africa, and the plains of the 
Orinoco, the reverberation of heat by whose sands 
renders the temperature exceedingly high. 

928. The isotherms of the Northern Hemisphere. 
Deviate from the parallels as follows : — they sink 

on the highlands of Central Asia, rise very high on 
the western coasts of the Eastern Continent, sink 
again on the eastern coasts and lofty highlands of 
America, and rise on its western coast. 



ISOTHERMS. 



91 



929. The rise. 

Is clue to the influence of warm currents ; the 
fall to the influence of vast bodies or high elevations 
of land ; facts easily understood in connection with 
what has been already presented in foregoing chap- 
ters. . 

930. The isotherms of the Southern Hemisphere. 
Deviate from the parallels, first, by sinking toward 

the Equator over the cold currents which set up 
the western coasts of the Grand Divisions, and also 
over the lofty highlands of South America ; and sec- 
ond, by rising toward the Pole over the warm cur- 
rents. 

931. The Poles of maximum cold. 

In the Northern Hemisphere, are found in 100° 
W. Lon., and 95 J E. Lon. Their latitude is not 
precisely ascertained, but the Western is thought 
to be in 78° N. Lat., and the Eastern in 74° N. Lat. 

932. They deviate from the Pole of the Earth. 

By reason of the frigorific influence exerted up- 
on temperature by land in high latitudes. On ac- 
count of that influence, it is warmer over the Arc- 
tic Ocean than over the lands situated to the South 
of it, and hence the poles of cold fall upon or near 
the land. 

933. The Antarctic pole or poles of cold. 

Have not yet been located ; they probably lie near- 
er the terrestrial Pole than the Arctic thermal 
poles.* 

934. Precisely what do the poles of cold indicate ■? 
The greatest cold for the year ; not the greatest 

* See Book Second of Series. 



cold for any single observation during the year. 
The eastern rjole j s f higher temperature than the 
western, but the intensest cold ever noted was near 
the eastern pole on the snowy wastes of Siberia.* 



Questions upon the Map of Isotherms. 

NO. 4, PAGE 92. 

Trace the course of the atmospheric thermal equator. Ex- 
plain why it recedes from and again approaches the Equator. 

What is its mean temperature 1 Where does it rise far- 
thest from the Equator 1 Where cross the Equator 1 

Trace the course of the isotherm of 60° in the Northern 
Hemisphere 1 Why does it sink over Central Asia 1 Does 
it rise or sink over the eastern part of the Atlantic 1 Why ■? 

Explain its oscillations North and South as it crosses the 
Western Continent % 



Do the isotherms of the Southern Hemisphere rise or sink 
on the western borders of the several oceans 1 Why 1 
Why do they fall on the eastern borders of the oceans 1 
Where are the poles of cold 1 Their temperature respect- 
ively 1 

Are they on the land or sea 1 The shape of the isotherms 
about them 1 

What is said on the Map of the average temperature of the 
several Zones 1 

The average temperature of the whole Earth 1 
What is the total range of natural temperatures 1 
Annual range of temperature in the Western Continent 1 
Annual range of temperature in the Eastern Continent 1 
Range of temperature on the coast of the United States 1 
Rauge of temperature on the northwest coast of Europe 1 
Where has the greatest heat ever been observed 1 
Where the greatest cold 1 

* See Book Second of Series. 



92 



WINDS. 




HURRICANE AXD WATER-SPOUI 



HAPTER XX. 



Geneva! Views of the Winds. Measons why the Winds Blow. 



GENEKAL VIEWS OE THE WINDS. 



985. Causation of wind. 

A portion of air becoming rare- 
fied by heat, rises, and colder air 
rushes in to take its place ; the cur- 
rent thus induced, constitutes wind ; 
wind, then, is air in motion. 



Definition, caus- 
ation, and charac- 
teristics of wind. 



936. Wind simply a consequence. 

The winds being so boisterous and turbulent, ob- 
trude themselves upon our attention, but in the or- 
der of nature they are simply consequences of vari- 
ation in tJte temperature and density of the atmos- 
phere. 



937. The leading feature of the winds. 

Their universality in time and space ; they have 
been blowing ever since the Creation, myriads of 
ages before man was made, blowing over land and 
sea, and through every nook and cranny of this 
great World. 

938. The velocity of wind depends upon what 1 ? 

First, upon the difference betwixt the density of 
the hot air and the density of the cold air ; the 
greater the difference, the swifter the wind. Sec- 
ondly, upon the absence of all obstacles in its path ; 
hence, upon mountain-tops and the ocean, winds 
blow with the greatest rapidity. 



WHY THE WINDS BLOW. 



93 



939. Velocity measured by miles. 

Ranges through every rate of motion, from that 
scarcely perceptible to three-hundred miles an hour. 
Four miles an hour constitutes a gentle breeze ; 
twelve miles, afresh breeze; twenty-five miles, a 
brisk wind; sixty miles, a very higli wind; one- 
hundred miles, a violent gale; higher rates, hurri- 
canes and tornadoes. 

910. The force of wind. 

Is proportioned to the square of its velocity. A 
ten-mile breeze strikes with the force of half-a-pound 
to the square foot ; a three-hundred-mile hurricane, 
four-hundred and fifty pounds to the square foot. 

911. Hence the effects of wind. 

We perceive how it is possible for winds to pros- 
trate mighty forests, to rend the cordage of ships, 
to tear up rocks and tons of earth from the solid 
ground, and to sweep up water from the sea till 
the air becomes another ocean ! 

912. The velocity and force of wind just right. 

In general, the velocity and force of wind are pre- 
cisely proportioned to the wants of the World ; both 
destructive gales, and stagnant, dead calms are rare, 
occurring only frequently enough to make us grate- 
ful for the ordinary rates of the wind's motion, and 
not frequently enough to impair the habitableness 
of the World. 



WHY THE WINDS BLOW. 



943. . Why do the winds blow at all ? 

First, to ventilate the Earth and 
heavens; poisonous exhalations ac- 
cumulate in forests, amid growing 
crops, in the streets of mighty cities 



First reason. 



in every 

cranny of the great Globe, and winds are needed 
to clear them out. 

911. What becomes of the exhalations % 

They are carried over the lands and are absorbed 
for food by the various kinds of plants ; so that the 
atmosphere never becomes vitiated in the mass, or 
for any great length of time. 



945. The vegetation of high latitudes. 

During the long nights of Autumn, gives out a 
vast amount of carbonic acid, which is poisonous in 
the lungs of animals ; this is carried by the winds 
to the tropics, and is absorbed by vegetables, as 
their food. 

946. The vegetation of a Hemisphere. 

In like manner when the vegetation of one Hem- 
isphere dies and decays, the exhalations thereof are 
carried by the winds to feed the growing vegetation 
of the other. But for this arrangement, the air in 
one Hemisphere would become vitiated, and the 
plants in the other would suffer for food. 

947. Plants need exercise. 

Every plant needs more or less agitation or exer- 
cise to keep in good health: the oak in the open 
pasture and the ash on the mountain-side owe the 
whalebone toughness of their fiber to the winds 
that keep them constantly in motion. 

918. Hot-house plants. 

For want of exercise are morbid growths, are 
subject to a thousand ails, and rarely live long. " In 
the Botanical Gardens of Paris the more delicate 
and precious trees are shaken every day to exercise 
them," and with the best results. 

949. Animals exposed to wind. 

Are noted for vigor and high health ; for exam- 
ple, cattle and horses pasturing in high, windy lo- 
calities are remarkable for toughness, spirit, and 
strength. Man's complexion when exposed to the 
wind, bronzes with deeper tints and glows with rud- 
dier hues. 

950. Secondly, as to heat and cold. 
The winds blow to diffuse the 

heat and cold accumulating in dif- 
ferent Zones, so as thereby to tem- 
per opposite climatic extremes ; an office so impor- 
tant that without its performance neither the Tropi- 
cal nor the Polar regions would be habitable. 

951. How does this appear 1 

Because when the Sun is on the Equator, 1,600 
times more heat falls upon the regions beneath than 



Second reason. 



94 



WHY THE WINDS BLOW. 



Third reason. 



upon equal spaces at the Poles ; and unless the heat 
were distributed, the temperature would be as 1,600 
to 1. 

952. Thirdly, as to moisture. 

The winds blow to distribute 
moisture over the Earth; to waft 
it from sea to land, and from Zone 
to Zone, so that water may be as universally dis- 
tributed as it is universally needed. 

953. Evaporation in the Torrid Zone. 
Evaporation is so abundant in the Torrid Zone 

that if the vapor were to fall in rain upon that Zone, 
it would have more than enough ; according!}' great 
quantities of vapor are borne away by winds, and 
are deposited in extra-tropical regions ; so that 
these have enough rain, and the tropics none too 
much. 

954. Land and sea as respects evaporation. 
Evaporation is more abundant from the ocean 

than from the land ; if all the vapor should fall up- 
on the sea again, no good would result; whereas 
the land needs it, and through the agency of winds, 
obtains it. 

955. Even the interiors of the continents. 

However far removed from the sea, get a share 
of moisture, for the higher currents of air bear 
it from the sea, and shed it upon even the central 
table-lands and mountains ; whence arise springs, 
rivers, lakes, and the whole magnificent system 
of water-supply established over the whole Globe. 

956. The winds of hot, dry deserts. 

Contain a vast amount of moisture; nothing but 
cold is needed to make it fall in abundant rains ; so 
that the winds are not responsible for their aridity. 

957. Fourthly, as to commerce. 
The winds have wafted the sails 

of commerce for thousands of years, 

speeding the march of material and 

intellectual civilization ; a motor cheap as it is 

mighty and universal, for it never asks anything for 

its services ! 



Fourth reason. 



958. Without this motor. 

In vain during the ages past would the ocean 
have spread from clime to clime, no keel could 
have plowed its stagnant expanse. Even in this 
age of steam, not a twentieth part of the World's 
commercial work could be profitably done if the 
cheap power of the winds should fail us. 

959. Moreover, a grand victory for man. 

It has been to subdue to his use so fluctuating an 
agent as the wind; the adaptation of means to this 
end constitutes no small part of his material civili- 
zation. 

960. Let the winds stop blowing. 

Taking no other result into the account, human 
industry and civilization would receive an irremedi- 
able wound, because one of the mightiest forces 
that move the World's labor would be stricken out 
of being. 

981. The winds and man's temporal probation. 

The winds blow in furtherance of 
man's physical and temporal proba- 
tion ; they sometimes blow to speed 
the pestilence, and to waft the wing 
of the death-angel ; to haste the destroying confla- 
gration ; to wreck the freighted ship ; and to whelm 
the dwellings, the works, and the lives of men in 
the tornado's ruin. 

962. To particularize all the reasons why the winds should 
blow. 

Would be impossible, for the reasons are co-ex- 
tensive with the Earth's expanse, co-existent with 
its duration, and numerous as the infinite multitude 
of beneficent effects resulting from them. 

963. The winds no idlers. 

The universe has no harder workers than the 
winds, for so long as they are, they work, work 
without money, and without price ; tireless, impar- 
tial, doing good to all, invisible, omnipresent, and 
ever-active like the Deity. 



Fifth reason. 




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CLASSIFICATION OF THE WINDS. 



95 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Classification of Winds. Constant, Periodical, Variable, and Special Wind*. 



CONSTANT WINDS. 

964. Classes of winds. 

Constant, Periodical, and Variable. 

965. Constant winds. 

Are those which are constant in duration, direc- 
tion, and force, or exhibit but comparatively little 
variability in these respects at different seasons. 

966. The most remarkable constant winds. 

The Trade-winds of commerce prevail on both 
sides of the Equator, from 20° to 30° North and 
South thereof, according to the Season of the year; 
they are constant, however, only over the oceans. 

967. Their direction. 

Is from the Northeast on the north side, from 
the Southeast on the south side of the Line ; bend- 
ing more and more to the "West as they approach 
the Line. 

968. The Equatorial Calm-Belt. 

Between the Trade-winds and along their line of 
junction, lies the Equatorial Calm-Belt, 6° wide 
moving forth and back with the Sun from 12° 
N. to 5° S. Lat. 

969. On the lands. 

The Calm-Belt vibrates across a still greater 
breadth of latitude, for whenever the Sun is verti- 
cal at any given place on the lands, the regular 
course of the Trades is observed to be broken 
up : this is true as far North and South as the 
Tropics. 



970. Cause of the Calm-Belt. 

The Calm-Belt is caused by the mutual opposi- 
tion and counteraction of the Trade-winds rushing 
together from opposite quarters. On the lands it 
seems to be largely produced by the substitution of 
vertical (up-and-down) currents for the progressive 
motion of the Trades ; the hot air rising from the 
ground, and the cold air sinking from above. 

971. The cause of the Trade-winds. 

The hot air along the Line rises, and winds rush 
in from either hand to supply the partial vacuum. 
The supply of heat being constant, the rising cur- 
rent of air is constant, and of course the in-rushing 
winds are constant, also. 

972. The bearing of these currents. 

These currents setting toward the Equator, bear 
to the West, in accordance with the law exhibited 
in Chap. XII. ; combining the motion toward the 
Line with the bearing toward the West, we account 
for their directions as above stated.* 

973. As the Sun passes North and South. 

The Trades and the Calm-Belt move North and 
South with it through 17° or 18°, passing, however, 
further to the North than to the South of the Line ; 
the cause of this inequality is the predominance of 
land in the Northern Hemisphere and its conse- 
quent high temperature in low latitudes ; hence the 
winds setting toward the point of greatest heat, 
meet North of the Line. 

* Let the teacher be sure the pupil gets hold of this. 



96 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE WINDS. 



971. What becomes of the air emptied into the Calm- 
Belt? 

It rises into the upper regions of the atmosphere, 
and flows off on either hand to the lower atmos- 
pheric levels at the Poles as upper currents, on the 
same principle that the current of a river flows 
down the inclined plane of its bed. 

975. How far does it continue to he an upper current 1 

It is supposed as far as the Tropics, Cancer and 
Capricorn ; at these points the air is supposed to 
meet upper currents setting toward the Equator 
from the Poles ; the opposing currents stop each 
other, bank up, and form the Calms of Cancer and 
Capricorn. 

976. Particulars respecting these Calm-Belts 

The Calm-Belts of Cancer and Capricorn have an 
average width of 6° ; they move North and South 
with the Sun through several degrees; their calms 
are not so complete and unbroken as those of the 
Equatorial Calm-Belt. 

977. The Horse-latitudes. 

The Calms of Cancer on the Atlantic are known 
to seamen as the " Horse-latitudes ; " because ves- 
sels bound from northern ports to the West Indies 
have not unfrequently been compelled to throw 
their cargo of horses overboard from want of wa- 
ter; the voyage being greatly protracted by the 
calms. 

978. What becomes of the air accumulating in these 
calms 1 

Immense volumes of it are drawn away toward 
the Equator to supply- the continual draft of the 
Trade-winds ; and the rest of it passes into and 
traverses the Temperate Zones as a Poleward-tend- 
ing surface-wind. 

979. The bearing of this surface-wind. 

This surface-wind on its passage toward the Poles 
bears toward the East in accordance with the prin- 
ciple exhibited in Chap. XII. ; * namely, that all 

*Do not fail to see that the pupil understands this. 



bodies moving from the Equator to the Poles bear 
toward the East. 

980. Its consequent direction in the Northern Hemis- 
phere. 

In the Northern Hemisphere the motion toward 
the North and toward the East results in a motion 
toward the Northeast; in other words, the prevail- 
ing winds will be Southwest, — the so-called South- 
west Return-Trades. Winds are named from the 
quarter of the compass from which they come ; cur- 
rents of water, from the point to which they flow. 

981. Its direction in the Southern Hemisphere. 

In the Southern Hemisphere the motion toward 
the South and toward the East results in a motion 
toward the Southeast; in other words, the prevail- 
ing wind will be a Northwest wind,— the Northwest 
Return-Trades. 

982. Their ultimate destination. 

These surface-winds ultimately reach the respect- 
ive Poles. The air there accumulating constitutes 
the Polar Calms, and from them flows down to 
the Tropics again as upper-currents ; at these points, 
as before shown, the upper currents meet with up- 
currents from the Equator, and the two systems 
banking up, form the Tropic Calms. 

983. Whether the Return-Trades are constant. 

Though not so constant as the Trade-Winds, yet 
they prevail in the mid Temperate latitudes and es- 
pecially on the ocean, in the ratio of two to one 
over any other wind ; so that, as elsewhere remarked, 
voyages to the East in those latitudes are shorter by 
one-third than voyages to the West. 

984. Barometric indications of the Calms. 

In the Tropic-Calms the barometer stands con- 
stantly higher than elsewhere upon the Globe, just 
as might be anticipated from the accumulation of 
air therein. Whereas it stands low at the Equato- 
rial Calm-Belt, the pressure being diminished by 
the rising tendency of the whole mass of the Calm- 
Belt atmosphere. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE WINDS. 



97 



JVJ^aJfas- 




DIAGRAM OF THE CONSTANT WINDS AND CALM-BELTS. 



988. As to the southwest Monsoon, what 
appears 1 

That it prevails while southern Asia 
is intensely heated by the Summer of the 
Northern Hemisphere, and while south- 
ern Africa and the southern part of the 
Indian Ocean are cold with "Winter. 

989. Causation of both the Monsoons. 
In both cases, the air setting from the 

cold to the hot region causes the Mon- 
soon or Season-ivind. 

990. Calms in the Indian Ocean. 

The calms of the Indian Ocean oc- 
cur at the change of the Monsoons, 
and over its whole expanse ; the defi- 
nite and limited Calm-Belts of the other 
oceans are not found upon this, save the 
Calms of Capricorn, partially. 

991. The Etesian Winds of the Mediterra- 
nean Sea. 

Prevail during the Summer, setting 
from the North toward the hot Sahara 
Desert ; they are simply a strong draft 
from a colder to a warmer region. 



PERIODICAL WINDS. 



985. 



Definition and 
causes of periodi- 
cal winds. 



Periodical Wixds. 
Are such as prevail regularly at- 
certain periods of the day or Sea- 
sons of the year. 

986. Monsoons of the Indian Ocean. 

From April to September the winds blow from 
the Indian Ocean Northeasterly upon southern 
Asia, constituting the southwest Monsoon ; from 
September to April they blow southwesterly from 
Southern Asia out upon the ocean, constituting the 
northeast Monsoon ; April and September are 
months of calms and dreadful tempests. 

987. As to the northeast Monsoon, what appears 1 
That the northeast Monsoon blows while south- 
ern Africa is intensely heated by the Summer of 
the southern Hemisphere, and while southern Asia 
is cold with winter. 



Land and sea 
breezes, and their 
causation. 



992. The " Northers " of the Gulf of Mexico. 

During the Winter blow from the snowy conti- 
nent out over the warm waters of the Gulf with 
unparalleled fury. 

993. Land and Sea breezes. 

Are common to all coast-regions 
in the Summer, blowing from sea to 
land during the clay, and from land 
to sea during the night. 

994. They originate as follows. 

During the day the air over the land becomes 
highly heated, and cooler air from the sea flows in 
and displaces it; at night the air over the land be- 
comes quickly cool, and accordingly flows out upon 
the sea, and displaces the warm air thereon. 

995. Universally. 

Whenever a region becomes periodically heated 
either for a longer or a shorter time, there a period- 



ic 



98 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE WINDS. 



ical ivind ivill bloiv, and blow to mitigate extremes 
that would otherwise become intolerable, or at least 
uncomfortable and unhealthy. 



VARIABLE WINDS. 



Variable Winds. 



Such as are inconstant as to du- 
ration, direction, and force, prevail 
chiefly in the Temperate Zones. 



Variable winds, 
and tueir causa- 
tion. 



997. Temperate-Zone surface-winds and upper currents. 
"We have already seen that the surface-winds of 

the Temperate Zones in general blow with consid- 
erable constancy from the Equator toward the 
Poles ; whereas their upper currents in general set 
with considerable constancy from the Poles toward 
the Equator. 

998. What must not be understood 1 

That this drift of the upper and lower currents 
respectively, is uniform and constant, but that it is 
rather the prevalent and general tendency; for it is 
the fact these currents so modify each other and are 
so modified by causes peculiar to these Zones, that the 
winds of these Zones are exceedingly variable. 

999. First, they modify each other. 

The upper currents descend to the surface, op- 
pose the surface-winds, drive them back, or are 
driven back by them ; or still otherwise, they fre- 
quently rotate about each other over immense 
breadths of country, and each place upon that coun- 
try will have the wind blow from every quarter of 
the compiass in succession during the period of rota- 
tion.* 

1000. Secondly, the currents are modified. 

The upper and lower currents are modified and 
rendered inconstant by causes peculiar to the Tem- 
perate Zone, such as the change of Seasons, the vari- 
ation in the length of day and night, the hot tropics 
on the one side and the cold Polar regions on the 
other. 

* See Book Second of Ser'es. 



1001. The winds of the Polar rnjinns. 

Also are variable in that they are 
inconstant as to duration, direction, 
and force, but they are feeble ; long 
and deep cairns prevail the greater portion of the 
year. 

1002. Cause of the calms. 

The prevalence of calms is due to the constancy 
of temperature in those regions; winds arise from 
variations of temperature ; but during the nine 
cold months, variations are rare and slow, and hence 
the winds are weak. 

1003. This is very well. 

Because in those cold regions it is not necessary 
to have great agitations of the atmosphere, either 
for its purification, or for the fulfillment of the va- 
rious offices devolving upon the winds. 



Examples of spe- 
cial winds. 



SPECIAL WINDS. 

1004. The wind of the African Deserts. 

Called the Simoon on the Saha- 
ra, the Samiel in Arabia, the Kham- 
sin in Egypt, the Sirocco in Sicily 
and Italy, is characterized by extreme heat and arid- 
ity, which are so intense as to cause great distress 
to animals, and to wither vegetation to dust. 

1005. Is it poisonous ? 

This wind is not poisonous, though so reputed ; 
the great heat thereof sometimes overpowers per- 
sons enfeebled by fatigue, exhaustion, or illness, or 
devitalized by plethora; its 'general effect upon ani- 
mal life is favorable by removing dampness and ma- 
laria from the atmosphere. 

1006. The Harmattan. 

Is a draft which in the Winter sets from the Sa- 
hara- arcross Guinea, out over the highly heated 
waters of the Gulf of Guinea. It is cool and 
healthy. It is, in fact, a Winter-monsoon. 

1007. Winds from mountains situate in hot countries. 
Are dreaded for the terrible contrast of temper- 
atures caused by them. The Black-wind of the 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE WINDS. 



99 



Alps, the Gallego of the Pyrenees, the Pampero of 
the Andes, are winds of this class, and are noted 
for their fury and inclemency. 

1008. Northeast winds. 

On the eastern shores of both continents in the 
mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, are noto- 
rious for chilliness, and for the dreary storms that 
accompany them ; a characteristic due to the pass- 
age of the winds from the Polar regions over ex- 
panses of icy ocean, and to the existence of Polar 
currents close along the shore. 

1009. The hurricanes of the tropics. 

Called West-India Hurricanes in the Atlantic, 
Mauritius Hurricanes in the Indian Ocean, and Ty- 
phoons in the Pacific, are tempests of such awful ve- 
locity and power that masses of lead weighing 
thousands of pounds, and iron cannons, have been 
blown hundreds of yards by them, and whole for- 
ests have been licked up from the ground, leaving 
scarcely a vestige behind. 

1010. Their motions, etc. 

They rotate about a center, and at the same time 
move progressively along the surface of the Earth ; 
there is a lull or dead calm at their center. 

1011. Their dimensions. 

Whole length of course from one-thousand to 
three-thousand miles ; breadth of whirl from fifty 
to one-thousand miles ; breadth of lull from five to 

* See Book Second of Series. 



thirty miles ; height of gyration from one to five 
miles. 

1012. How produced 1 

They are produced by the conflict of vast bodies 
of air in motion ; in a word, they are two hurri- 
canes in conflict or in combination, and hence their 
fury.* 

1013. Other names. 

Are applied to them, as Cyclone, Eevolving- 
Storm, Gyratory or Eotating Tempest ; all alluding 
to the rotatory motion. 



Questions upon the Map of the Winds. 

NO. 5, PAGE 97. 

How are the Northeast Trades designated or represented 1 
The Southeast 1 . ■ 

How are the Calm-Belts represented 1 Where are they 1 

What is said of them on the Map 1 What is said of the 
Trade- winds 1 

What are Monsoons 1 Where is the largest system of Mon- 
soons 1 

How are the Indian-Ocean Monsoons designated ? 

Where does the Simoon prevail 1 The Samiel 1 The 
Khamsin 1 The Sirocco ■? 

Where does the Pampero Mow 1 Where the Gallego 1 
The Black-Wind 1 The " Northers " 1 

Where are the hurricane-districts 1 How are they desig- 
nated on the Map "? What is said of them on the Map 1 

What systems of winds lie exterior to the Trades 1 

What is said on the Map of the Return-Trades ? 

What of the Polar winds 1 




100 



GENERAL VIEWS OF RAIN. 




RAIN AND INUXDATION. 



AFTER XXII. 



CJeneral Views of Main. 



The Distribution of Main. 

System of Mains. 



The Fitness of the 



General views 
of evaporation. 



GENERAL VIEWS OP RAIN. 

1014. What is rain % 

Rain is watery vapor, precipita- 
ted from the atmosphere in the form 
of drops. 

1015. What is vapor ? 

Vapor consists of minute particles of water, sep- 
arated so far from one another by heat that in the 
mass they are invisible like gas. 

1016. Vapov forms at what temperature ? 

At all temperatures from below zero to boiling ; 
the rapidity of its formation is proportioned to the 



heat, hence from ice and snow it makes very slowly, 
from boiling water very rapidly. 

1017. Expansion of vapor. 

Vapor from water at 212° expands to one-thou- 
sand seven-hundred times the bulk of the water; 
from water at 40°, expands to three-thousand times 
the bulk of the water; in other words, is three-thou- 
sand times lighter than water. 

1018. How far will vapor rise in the atmosphere 1 

To heights varying with the temperature at which 
the vapor was formed. Vapor from boiling water 
is as light as atmosphere at the height of three 
miles, hence it can rise to the height of three miles. 




THE DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN. 



101 



1019. Vapor formed at lower temperatures. 

Can rise higher still, because it is lighter ; vapor 
from water at 40° can rise five miles because it is as 
rare as atmosphere at that height. 

1020. How high does the vapor rise % 

The highest clouds are seven or eight miles high; 
these are formed of the vapor evaporated below 
freezing-point, and even below zero. 

1021. What makes the vapor rise into the atmosphere t 
The particles of the vapor repel one another, and 

therefore as fast as the vapor makes, the particles 
crowd one another up the interstices of the atmos- 
phere. 

1022. How does the vapor exist iu the atmosphere'! 

It is not "dissolved in the atmosphere; " it is not 
" chemically combined with the atmosphere ; " but 
is simply "mechanically mixed with the atmos- 
phere," like grains of powder with mustard-seed. 

1023. Even if there were no air. 

Vapor would rise just the same, or much more 
freely, indeed, for the pressure of the atmosphere 
checks evaporation. 



Evaporation iu 
the different Zone?. 



1021. Evaporation most ahundant in 
what Zone 1 

In the Torrid Zone, because there 
heat is most abundant. 



1025. Annual amount of tropical evaporation. 
Enough water is yearly evaporated in the Torrid 

Zone to cover its entire surface to the depth of 
about nine and one-half feet. The vapor is chiefly 
raised from the ocean ; not less than fifteen feet an- 
nually from the Trade wind portions thereof. 

1026. Extra-tropical evaporation. 

The annual amount of evaporation in the Tem- 
perate Zones is tivo feet; in the Frigid Zones it is 
very small, how much is not very definitely known. 

1027. Proportional amount for the several Zones. 

May be expressed with tolerable accuracy, as fol- 
lows : Torrid Zone, thirty-seven parts ; Temperate 
Zones, ten parts; Frigid Zones, two-thirds of one 



part ; for the whole Earth, forty-seven and two- 
thirds parts.* 

1028. Weight and volume of the evaporated water. 
The water yearly evaporated to supply the rains 

of the Globe would cover one-hundred and eighty- 
five thousand square miles to the depth of one 
mile; its total weight is about sixty-five trillion 
tons ; and to raise it to the mean height of the 
clouds, would require about three-trillion horse- 
powers, working ten hours every day. 

1029. Wonderful adaptation. 

That this enormous volume can thus be lifted 
miles high into the atmosphere, be blown about in 
every wind under heaven, and at last deposited 
in tiny drops that refuse to break the stem of the 
lilv or the hollow tube of the grass-spire! 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN. 

1030. Almost constant rain. 
Prevails at the Equatorial Calm- 



Belt. 



Calm-Belt or 
tropical rains. 



1031. The cause thereof. 

The Trade-winds sweeping a broad expanse of 
steaming ocean, bring immense quantities of vapor 
into the Calms; the vapor rising with the ascending 
currents reaches the cold air above, is condensed, 
and falls amid tempests of thunder, lightning, and 
wind. 

1032. What tempests 1 

The Calms are broken by frequent spasmodic 
tempests of short duration but of unparalleled fury ; 
so that the passage of the Calms is always the ter- 
ror, and frequently the destruction of the navigator. 

1033. Range of the Calm-Belt rains. 

The Calm-Belt rains move North and South with 
the Calms, so that a perpetual oscillating Cloud- 
Ring encircles the Equatorial regions of the Earth. 

1034. Cloud-Ring's range greater than Calm-Belt's. 
The Cloud-Ring vibrates or spreads across a 

* Compare with 1049. 




102 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN. 



greater breadth than the Calm-Belt; Erst, because 
of the swelling-out or intumescense of the vapors 
carried aloft ; and secondly, because the upper cur- 
rents setting Poleward, carry a part of the mois- 
ture along with them, dropping it on the way in the 
form of rain. 

1035. On the land in particular. 

The Calm-Belt and the Cloud-Ring vibrate across 
a greater range of latitude on the land than on the 
oceans ; so that nearly all the land in the Torrid 
Zone, if watered at all, is watered by the Cloud- 
Ring rains. 

1036. Character of tropical rains. 

Hence it follows that tropical rains are period- 
ical in character, occurring for each place at the 
period when the Sun is vertical thereat, and when, 
therefore, the Cloud-Ring is overhead. 

1037. Rains at the Tropic Circles. 

Places at the Tropic of Cancer have their rains 
in our midsummer ; at the Tropic of Capricorn dur- 
ing our midwinter ; the Sun being vertical at the 
Tropics at those periods of the year. 

1038. Two rainy and two dry seasons. 

Near the Equator two rainy and tivo dry seasons 
a year are experienced, because the Sun, going forth 
and back from Tropic to Tropic, is vertical there 
twice every year. 

1039. Amount of rain-fall for the whole World. 

The average annual amount of rain for the whole 
Earth is sixty inches, or five feet. 

1040. Amount of tropical rain. 

The average annual tropical rain-fall is ninety-six 
inches, or eight feet. More than this is evaporated, 
but winds carry it away to be deposited in other 
Zones. 

1041. Tropical rain-fall on the lands. 

The tropical rain-fall on the lands is modified as 
follows : one-hundred and fifteen inches fall annual- 
ly in the tropical parts of the New World, seventy- 
six in the tropical parts of the Old World. 



Tomperate-Zune 
rains. 



1042. A tropical rainy day. 

The morning is cloudless -till 10 A. M. ; then 
clouds gather till 12 M., when the windows of heav- 
en are opened, and deluges descend till 4 P. M. ; 
the clouds disperse, the Sun breaks out, and the firm- 
ament glows clear and serene till the next day. 

1043 Average number of rainy days. 

Eighty days suffice in general for the deposition 
of tropical rains ; their violence compensates for the 
shortness of time; it very rarely rains all day, and 
hardly ever at night. 

1044. Temperate-Zone rains. 

Are variable, or non-periodic ; 
occurring at any time of the day, 
night, or year ; their average fall 
is thirtj'-four inches ; more than is evaporated, the 
surplus being brought from the tropics by winds. 

1045. Quantity in each Temperate Zone. 

The South-Temperate Zone receives twenty-nine 
inches, and the North-Temperate thirty -nine inches; 
the cause of the difference is as follows : the rain- 
belt is situated, on the average, several degrees 
North of the Line, and therefore its waters fall 
more abundantly and extensively to the North than 
to the South of the Line. 

1046. The fall in different latitudes. 

The fall varies in different latitudes of the Tem- 
perate Zones ; in the lower latitudes the rains are 
tropical both in the periods, duration, and amount 
of fall ; in the higher latitudes they are less in quan- 
tity, more irregular as to periods, and longer in du- 
ration. 

1047. Accordingly, the number of rainy days. 

Varies from ninety days in low latitudes to two 
hundred in high. 

1048. Rain in the Frigid Zones. 



Occurs during only two or three 
months and in the lower latitudes ; 
its amount is very inconsiderable. 



Frigid-Zone rains. 



THE FITNESS OF THE SYSTEM OF RAINS. 



103 



1049. Proportional amounts for the several Zones. 
May be expressed as follows : — Torrid-Zone rain, 

thirty-two parts ; Temperate-Zone rain, fifteen and 
one-sixth parts; Frigid-Zone rain, one-half part. 
Total for the Earth, forty-seven and two-thirds 
parts.* 

1050. What modifies the general distribution of rain"? 
The general distribution of rain 

is modified by Winds, Mountains, 



Geographical Position, 
titude. 



and Al- 



Modific^tion of 
the general distri- 
bution of rain. 



1051. First, sea winds. 

A country swept by moist sea-winds receives a 
larger share of rain- than is due to it from its lati- 
tude alone ; thus tropical South America owes its 
abundant rains, its moist climate, its exuberant 
vegetation, to the vapor-laden Trade-winds of the 
Atlantic. 

1052. Whereas winds from deserts. 

Greatly diminish the proportion of rain that 
would otherwise fall to neighboring countries ; the 
winds of the Sahara often wither to dust the vege- 
tation ot adjoining regions, drinking up all the 
moisture from the face oi nature. 

1053. Secondly, mountains. 

Mountains modify the distribution ol rain by cut- 
ting it off from some countries, and accumulating it 
upon others. Thus the Himalayas cut oft' from the 
parched deserts of Central Asia the abundant va- 
pors of the Indian Ocean, and compel them all to 
fall upon the Plain of Hindoostan ; hence its humid 
skies, its voluminous rivers, and affluent vegetation. 

1054. Example second. 

The rainless regions of the western coast of South 
America are produced by the cutting off from them 
of the vapor-bearing Trade-winds of the Atlantic 
by the mountains ; in portions of Peru it rains 
scarcely once a century, whereas on the other side 
of the mountains Brazil is drenched with enormous 
rain-falls. 

*Compare with 1027. 



1055. Thirdly, geographic position. 

The geographic position of a country largely af- 
fects the amount of rain falling upon it; the inte- 
riors of the continents do not receive more than one- 
half or two-thirds as much rain as the coasts. 

1056. The elevation or altitude of a country. 

The elevation of a country above the sea greatly 
modifies its rain-supplies. The mean height of the 
rain-clouds is not probably over one mile, hence 
highly elevated regions are lifted above the rain- 
bearing stratum of atmosphere. Plateaus are gen- 
erally arid, the rain being deposited on their lower 
slopes. 



Reasons why 
the tropical rains 
are as they are. 



FITNESS OF THE SYSTEM OF RAINS. 

1057. Characteristics of tropical rains. 

The tropical rains, we have seen, 
are distinguished for a great amount 
of deposition in a short time, and 
at a regular period of the year. 

1058. What can be shown 1 

That all these characteristics are severally, pre- 
cisely as they should be, to be in adaptation to 
the necessities of the case. 

1059. First, great deposition. 

Is absolutely necessary in the tropics, where heat 
and evaporation are so great, where vegetation is 
so profuse, and much of it of a sort requiring abund- 
ant moisture : as rice, for a single example. 

1060. A comparatively short time should suffice. 

Por tropical vegetation requires a great amount 
of hot sunshine to mature it, and needs it, too, 
during the rainy season; but if the rains were 
long, it could not have sufficient sunshine ; and be- 
sides, heavy rains, if long continued, would swamp 
the land. 

1061. Hence only a few hours a day. 

Even in the Wet Season, are occupied in deposi- 
tion ; the Sunshines blazing-hot the rest; accord- 
ingly the Wet Season is the true tropical Sum- 
mer or vegetating time. 



104 



THE FITNESS OF THE SYSTEM OF RAINS. 



1062. A regular period of the year for rain. 

Is necessary, because tropical vegetation, like all 
other, needs a period of rest, and has it in the Dry- 
Season; hence the intense dryness of that Season, 
in order that vegetation may rest the better. 

1063. Characteristics of the Temperate-Zone rains. 

The Temperate-Zone rains are distinguished for 
moderate deposition, occurring non-periodically, and 
continuing a great length of time. 

1064. Deposition in the Temperate Zones. 



Why the Tern 
perate-Zone rains 
are as they are. 



In the Temperate Zones moder- 
ate deposition suffices, since heat 
and evaporation are moderate, and 
since their vegetation does not need 
very heavy rains at any period, and would be dam- 
aged by them. 

1065. Non-periodicity. 

Is an essential characteristic of Temperate-Zone 
rains; for the vegetation of these Zones requires 
frequent though moderate waterings through the 
ivhole period of its growth. 

1066. Duration of the Temperate-Zone rains. 

The Temperate-Zone rains occupy a long period 
of time during the year for their fall ; for this the 
following reasons may be urged. 

1067. First, vegetation. 

The characteristic vegetation of the Temperate 
Zones, the grasses and grains, the delicate shrubs 
and tree-foliage, flourish better under a sky humid 
with protracted rains, than one parched with pro- 
tracted droughts. 

1068- Secondly. 

Temperate-Zone rains being of necessity very 
light, the land could not get rain enough unless 
the rains were long. 



Why the Frig- 
id-Zone rains are- 
as they are. 



1069. Characteristics of the Frigid-Zone rains. 

The Frigid-Zone rains are very 
light, — are confined to a short sea- 
son, and to the loioer latitudes ; 
with good reason, for heavy rains 
would do the minute vegetations of the Polar realms 
no good at any time, and any rain could do it no 
good, save in the two months of Summer, and in 
the lower latitudes where something grows. 



Questions upon the Rain-Map. 

NO. 6, OPPOSITE PAGE. 

Where is the darkest shading upon this Map 1 and why t 
What title is given on the Map to this dark-shaded zone"? 
What does it say respecting the number of rainy days, etc. 1 
How much rain in the tropical New World 1 In the Old 1 
Is there no rain in any part of this zone 1 Where ? 
Where does this zone reach farthest North 1 

What rain-zone lies North of the periodic rain-zone 1 
What is said of the number of rainy days, etc., in this 
zone 1 

Is any part of it rainless 1 What t, 

What do the letters W. R. and S. R. mean ? 

Where do they have heavy S. R. 1 Winter Rains ? 



What rain-zone lies South of the periodic rain-zone ? 

What of its rainy days, rain-fall, etc. 1 

Where do they have W. R. in this zone ' 

Is any part of it rainless ? What 1 

What does the rim of shading about Australia signify 1 



What sort of rains prevail in the Polar regions 1 

At what time of year 1 Probable average quantity ■? 

What does the line of figures stretched up and down the 

left of the Map show 1 

What are the quantities for the different latitudes specified 1 
Is it rainy in Hindoostan 1 In Arabia 1 In Brazil 1 In 

Florida 1 



PART I 



OEGANIO EXISTENCE. 



CHAPTER XXIII 



The General Adaptations of Plants. The Variety of Plants. Food-Plants. 



PLANTS. 

1070. What we hare considered in the first three Parts of 
this hook. 

Thus far in this book we have 
considered the Earth and Lands, 
the Waters, and Climate. 



The World in- 
complete without 
living things up- 
on it. 



1071. What is true of all these 1 

That without living things to use and enjoy them, 
they would be comparatively useless ; therefore we 
are prepared to find living things upon the Earth, 
and to find them adapted to the above physical 
facts; namely, to the Earth and the Lands, to the 
Waters, and to Climate. 

1072. Living things classified. 

All living things are summed up 
in the term Organic Existence, and 
all belong to one or the other of 
the following classes, Plants and 
Animals. 

1073. The term organic. 

Means possessed or composed of organs or in- 
struments suited to the performance of certain du- 
ties ; thus the lungs, head, stomach, or roots, branch- 
es, and leaves, are organs. 



General classifi- 
cation of living 
things. 



Plants and their 
adaptation to the 
World. 



1074. Our business in this part of the book. 

Is not to consider at length the structure, func- 
tions, and habits of organic beings, but to show 
the adaptation of those beings to the general sj's- 
tem of the World, the facts of the distribution of 
those beings, and the means by which that distribu- 
tion has been and is effected. 

1075. What is a plant % 

An organic body destitute of 
sensation and spontaneous motion, 
that lives chiefly upon carbonic-acid 
gas and mineral substances. 

1076. The principal parts of plants. 

Are the root, the trunk, or stem, and the top ; 
each is perfectly adapted to the other, and all to 
the inorganic world which we have thus far sur- 
veyed. 

1077. The root, for example. 

Subdividing into numerous delicate fibrils or rad- 
icles, is perfectly ' adapted to the nature of soil, be- 
cause the radicles find passage through the pores of 
the soil, penetrate to all parts of it, and have little 
mouths with which to suck in a part of the soil for 
food to the plant. 



14 



106 



THE VARIETY OF PLANTS. 



1078. These little mouths, and water. 

These little mouths drink in ivater for the plant 
as well as absorb earthy matter ; so that the root is 
adapted to water as well as to earth. 

1079. Hence we see one reason. 

Why water is so universally found in the surface- 
matter of the Earth ; namely, because plants may be 
everywhere, and wherever they may be, they will cer- 
tainly want water ; for without water they starve as 
well as choke, because they cannot absorb the earthy 
matter until water has dissolved it, after which the 
roots drink in both together. 

1080. The concentering of the roots. 

The roots, like brooks, center into one channel, 
the trunk, or stem ; this is composed of innumerable 
arteries along which the sap flows; it is compacted 
together very strong so that it can hold the branch- 
es and leaves up to the light and heat, and sustain 
them against the ivinds and rains ; thus the trunk 
is adapted to the inorganic world. 

1081. More about the leaves. 

These are very thin, and are large in surface or 
in number, so that the influence of light, and' heat, 
and air, may be effectually brought to bear upon the 
sap ; moreover, the under sides of the leaves are 
full of pores through which the watery part of the 
sap escapes, being driven off by the Sun's influence. 

1082. The pores absorb also. 

Through these pores, also, large quantities of the 
carbonic-acid gas of the atmosphere are absorbed ; 
the oxygen is torn from the carbon and expelled, 
the carbon unites with the sap, and makes it nourish- 
ing, substantial food for the plant. 

1083. Sunlight and sun-heal are necessary for plants. 
For the light and heat turn the water and the 

carbon, etc., into sap fitted for the nutriment of the 
plant. The light and heat, moreover, are secreted 
or laid away in the plant ; when the plant is burned, 
the light and heat are set free ; hence the glow and 
warmth when wood is burned. 

1081. What now do we see 1 

That earth, water, air, light, and heat are neces- 



sary to the growth of even a single plant, and that 
they all are therefore perfectly adapted to every 
plant ; correspondent^, we perceive that plants are 
as admirably adapted to the foregoing inorganic 
elements, as they to them , so that the adaptation 
is mutual and perfect throughout. 

1085. The sura of the adaptations. 

Is as great as the entire number of plants that 
have lived, that are living, or that may live upon the 
Globe, multiplied into all the possible relations which 
these plants may hold to the inorganic elements. 



The variety of 
plants awl exam- 
ples thereof. 



THE VARIETY OF PLANTS. 

1086. How many distinct species of plants are known 1 

125,000 different species have 
been discovered and classified ; but 
since there are extensive regions 
which have never been botanically 
explored, undoubtedly thousands more exist. 

1087. What is a species 1 

All the individuals of a kind, that are and remain 
permanently identical, unchanged in all essential 
points by time or circumstance; in other words, a 
species comprehends all the individuals springing 
from a common parentage. 

1088. What of plant-varieties ? 

Nearly if not quite every species of plant con- 
tains several varieties, or sub-species, much resem- 
bling the original stock, but not identical with it ; 
thus hundreds of varieties of apples, potatoes,, 
pears, of rice, maize, and wheat, exist at one and 
the same time in different parts of the Earth. 

1089. Probable number of varieties. 

If each species be supposed to embrace only ten 
sub-species, the supposition involves the existence 
of 1,250,000 plant-varieties; moreover, each suc- 
ceeding age sees new varieties introduced and cul- 
tivated, and the old dropping out of use ; in fact, an 
infinite, or at least, indefinite, number of varieties 
can be produced by culture. 



FOOD-PLANTS. 



107 




Question con- 
cerning the vari- 
ty of plants. 



1090. Moreover, no two plants. 

Even of the same sub-species are exactly alike ; 
hence an infinite multitude of diversities arise, for 
the diversities will be as numerous as the individu- 
als ; a variety more wonderful in view of the fact 
that all plants feed upon and are composed of four 
elements, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen. 

1091. What question here rises 1 

In view of the astonishing varie- 
ty of plants, the question irresisti- 
bly rises, why has so enormous a 
variety heen created ? 

1092. First, animals. 

The majority of animals reckoned by species, and 
a vast majority reckoned by individuals, feed upon 
plants, and the different species relish and require 
different sorts of food; hence the variety of plants 
to meet their wants. 

1093. Secondly, the vegetating power of the Earth. 
The vegetating capacities of the Earth vary 

greatly in different regions, climates, soils, seasons, 
and under different conditions and systems of cul- 
ture ; hence the need of variety in plants to meet 
these various capacities. 



1094. That these reasons are both good. 

Appears from the fact, first, that not a plant ex- 
ists that is not food to some creature ; and second, 
that each limited tract of country has some plant 
upon it that flourishes better there than anywhere 
else. 



Food-plants, 
and their adap- 
tation to man's 
wants. 



POOD-PLANTS. 

1095. What is & food-plant ? 

Any plant that constitutes or fur- 
nishes food to man ; in general 
terms, every plant is a food-plant, 
for every plant is eaten more or 
less by some creature or other. 

1096. The staples of man's food. 

Eirst, the grains, — rice, wheat, maize, barley, rye, 
oats, and millet, — all produced by grasses ; secondly, 
roots, — potatoes, yams, the arrow -root, and the ma- 
nioc from which cassava and tapioca are prepared. 



1097. Third, tree-pro, 

Dates from the palm, bananas from the plantain, 
the cocoa-nut, the bread-fruit, and sago ; in the ag- 
gregate, the food of hundreds of millions of men. 



108 



FOOD-PLANTS. 



The grains are the main staple of human food ; in 
particular, wheat, maize, and rice. 

1098. Five characteristics of food-plants. 

First, their small size and general manageable- 
ness ; second, their abundant yield in return for la- 
bor ; third, the rapidity of their growth, and speedy 
maturing; fourth, the predominance of fruit over 
stalk, husk, or leaf; fifth, the suitableness of their 
husks and leaves for food to animals. 

1099. Suppose the food-plants to be changed. 

If man's food-plants required ages for growth, 
grew to a vast size, yielded only a small share of 
fruit, and had to be gathered like the acorn or the 
walnut, how much man's labors would be increased ! 

1100. Different climates. 

Are favorable to different food- 
plants; but every climate in which 
man can need vegetable food, has 
at least one of the staples. Exam- 
ples : rice and millet in the tropics, maize in the 



The food-plants 
of different cji- 
mates, and their 
suitableness. 




hotter parts of the Temperate Zones, then wheat, 
rye, and barley in succession; the latter growing 
nearly to the Polar Circle. 

1101. Each staple suited to the climate. 

In general, the staple that flourishes in any cli- 
mate is best fitted for human food in that climate ; 
so that each region has not only one staple, but for 
it the best staple. 

1102. In illustration. 

Bice and millet and the fruit-staples flourish in 
the tropics, and the}' constitute, on the whole, the 
healthiest food in those regions ; by the side of 
these grow the capsicums and hot spices needed to 
give them sufficient tonic and invigorating qu.ility, 
and to guard man against the malaria of the Wet 
Season, and the attacks of worms and parasitic in- 
sects. 

1103. Likewise. 

By the side of the cocoa-nut and palm grow the 
tamarind and the croton, furnishing close at hand 
purgatives counteractive of the astringent quality 
of those articles of food. 

1104. Whereas in the Polar Zone. 

No proper food-plant is produced, and none is 
wanted ; there man craves no other food than flesh 
and blubber and oil and blood, and they alone 
suffice his needs. 

1105. In the Temperate Zones. 

Man's food-supplies are characterized by remark- 
able variety, so as to meet the necessities of the 
varying Seasons, and the alternating extremes of 
climate ; substantial grains, well-keeping and nu- 
tritious fruits and roots for Winter; and for Sum- 
mer, juicy, wholesome vegetables, and cooling fruits 
in grateful abundance. 

1106. Is man's food stinted in variety 1 



Variety of man's 
food. 



Although the staples of man's 
food are thus few in number, yet 
since the wants of man in all climes 
are in the main alike, he nowhere suffers from 
lack of variety ; especially since numerous addi- 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS. 



109 



tional articles of food are furnished by shrub and 
tree and root; so that not only are the wants of 
man supplied, but also his tastes and appetites are 
gratified. 

1107. These accessories, how raised 1 

Many of these collateral articles of food, as the 
fruits, for example, grow upon trees and large 
shrubs that live for many years, and require but 
little labor and care ; thus man's toils are lessened, 
the deep soil, as well as the surface-soil, contributes 
to his necessities, and the chances of famine from 
casual droughts or floods are diminished. 

1108. Favor shown man. 

Thus we perceive that man's cares and toils in 
supplying his bodily wants have been purposely and 
indulgently lightened; to the end, probably, that 
he might be able to look after his intellectual and 
spiritual interests. 

1109. Still, what of man's burden 1 

It is still true that a weighty though salutary 
burden rests upon him, for no food-plant flourishes 



witJwut cultivation, and nearly all require constant 
care and laborious attendance. 

1110. This is not all. 

Not only must man cultivate, but also domesticate 
and develop the food-plants, for in their wild state 
they yield a very meager and unpalatable harvest; 
the crab-apple, the native pear, peach, and plum, 
the wild potato, dwarfed in size, acrid and pungent 
in flavor, are examples. 

1111. Man's office. 

It appears, then, that man is co-worker with God 
in the management and development of the vegeta- 
ble kingdom. This high vocation calls to exertion 
of body and mind — exertion which makes man a 
stronger, wiser, and better being. 

1112. In conclusion. 

The entire matter of the food-plants has been care- 
fully and critically adjusted to the convenience, ne- 
cessities, and probationary needs of mankind. So 
that even in the plants we eat, God has made as it 
were a special revelation of his power and provi- 
dence. 



CHAPTE 



XXIV. 



The distribution of Plants. The Floras of the several Zones. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OP PLANTS. 

1113. What agents have distributed plants r 

The main agents in the distribution of plants are 
the winds, waters, birds, animals, and man. 

1114. Size of the seeds of plants. 
The seeds of the great majority 

of plants are, as compared with the 
plants themselves, exceedingly ini- 



How the winds 
carry the. BCeds. 



nute, so that only a little force is required to move 
them from place to place. 

1115. In particular. 

The seeds of forest-trees and of such plants as 
are not used for food by man, and cannot therefore 
expect any care at his hand, are of this sort ; hence 
the species are perpetuated even though man takes 
no concern about them. 



110 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS. 



1116. Feathery appendages, etc. 

The seeds of multitudes of plants, particularly of 
the humbler and less-esteemed sorts, are furnished 
with wings, or sails, feathery or hairy appendages, 
so that if nothing else will carry them about, the 
winds cannot help doing so. 

1117. Autumn-winds. 

The winds of Autumn, the season when the seeds 
are set adrift, are notably strong and continuous, so 
that the seeds are well distributed ; indeed, the air 
of Autumn is all alive with flying seeds. 

1118. How they are planted. 

The first shower of rain that wets the plumy vans 
of the seed, bears it to the ground, and then the 
pattering drops hammer it into the soil, or impact 
it about with dirt ; the rains of Autumn plant and 
cover more seeds by far than man. 

1119. How far they are carried. 

Minute seeds — and some are so minute as to re- 
semble smoke, as, for example, those of the common 
puff-ball — are carried across the oceans by winds; 
the seeds of multitudes of South-American plants 
are wafted to Europe, and African seeds are trans- 
ported to South America. 

1120. The ocean-currents. 

The seeds of plants flourishing in 
the West Indies are carried by 
millions to the northwest coasts of 
Europe, and even to Norway and beyond North 
Cape, by the Gulf-Stream. 

1121. Without avail. 

In this particular case, the seeds never come to 
anything because of the uncongeniality of the veg- 
etating conditions of those countries, the rigor of 
the climate, the long and dismal rains, the cold and 
stubborn soil. 

1122. West Africa. 

Very frequently sends over to Brazil and even to 
the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico the seeds that 
ripen on her shores, or on the banks of her great 
rivers ; some years ago an immense tree, grown 
upon the banks of the Senegal, was cast ashore in 



Waters carry the 
seeds. 



Guiana, with some leaves and withered fruit upon it. 

1123. Rivers. 

In their inundations, leave upon the ground the 
seeds of plants grown near their fountain-head, and 
take up the seeds of the overflowed region, and 
carry them to others near their terminus. 

1124. Inland seas, etc. 

Seeds floating upon the waters of ponds and 
lakes and inland seas, cast ashore by breakers, or 
left on the sands by the lowering of the waters in 
dry times, are driven inland by the winds where 
they can take root. 

1125. Why the seeds are not killed. 

Very many seeds, and especially those left to the 
mercy of the elements, are covered with compact 
shells, or dense integuments, or water-proof husks, 
so that the long immersion does not destroy their 
vitality. 

1126. Migratory birds. 

Feeding by myriads upon the 
seeds of plants, and traversing hun- 
dreds of miles in a few hours, con- 
tribute to the rapid and very extensive diffusion of 
plants. 

1127- Graminivorous animals. 

Help diffuse plants through the means of the 
seeds thereof, not perhaps with great rapidity or 
over extensive ranges at once, but with great thor- 
oughness. 

1128. The more effectually. 

Because the seeds in the droppings of the ani- 
mals are favorably situated for germination and 
growth ; and by the fact of its position, the plant is 
to a good degree protected from being browsed 
upon during the early and tender period of its life. 

1129. Above any other animal. 

Man has been instrumental in dif- 
fusing plants, and especially food- 
plants, over the Earth ; both his in- 
terests and his opportunities and 
capacities contributing to this end. 



Birds and ani- 
mals. 



Stan's agency in 
the diffusion of 
plants. 



THE FLORAS. 



Ill 



1130. Maize, for example. 

Original^ found in America, has been carried by 
man to nearly every region where it can flourish, 
and now forms the main staple of food to perhaps 
the greater portion of the human family. Over sis- 
hundred million bushels are yearly raised in the 
United States. 

1131. The potato. 

That grows spontaneously only along the western 
slopes of the Andes in South America, is now rais- 
ed in every latitude from one Polar Circle to the 
other, and in every sort of soil, from parched sands 
to drenched and water-logged clays. 

1132. Wheat, etc. 

"Wheat, barley, and rye, indigenous in western 
Asia, thence have spread to nearly every clime ; 
wheat from Hudson's Bay to the Equator, rye to 
Norway and Finland, and barley to the frozen bogs 
of Lapland. Rice has passed from its native swamps 
in Hindoostan to the peninsulas of south Europe, 
to the moist lowlands of both Americas, and even 
to the remotest islands of the Pacific Ocean. 

1133. Coffee. 

From Arabia or India has followed the Sun around 
the Globe, and now produces its aromatic berries in 
nearly every tropical meridian where the lands have 
displaced the ocean. 

1134. Tea. 

From time immemorial raised in China, and the 
countries adjacent, has spread in its use throughout 
the civilized world ; but its culture is confined to 
those populous countries by the cheapness of labor, 
not by any climatic or physical necessity. 

1135. Fruits and flowers. 

Nearly all the richest and most valuable of the 
cultivated fruits and flowers of the Temperate Zones, 
originated in western Asia, and have been distribu- 
ted thence by the interested hand of man. 

1136. The original distribution of plants. 

Each plant is supposed to have been located at a 
particular center, and to have spread from it by the 



means above shown. Having considered the means, 
it now remains to consider the facts of that distri- 
bution ; in other words, to survey the floras of the 
several Zones. 



POLAR AHD TEMPERATE-ZONE FLORAS. 

1137. What is a, flora ? 

The flora of a Zone or country is all the plants 
of that Zone or country taken together, and regard- 
ed as a whole. 



1138. The flora of the Polar regions. 

Is very limited ; lichens, mosses, 
coarse grass, reeds, rushes, stunted 
firs, larches, and pines, with a few 



The flora, of the 
Polar Zone. 



running vines and berry-bearing plants, constitute 
the chief members thereof. 

1139. Cause of its meagerness. 

The flora of the Frigid Zones is thus stinted, be- 
cause heat, light, and moisture, the grand stimulants 
of vegetation, are scantily dispensed to those Zones. 
Yet it is ample for all required purposes, since there 
are very few animals in the cold Zones that can eat 
vegetable food. 



1140. The Temperate-Zone flora. 

Exhibits a grand advance upon 
the Polar in the number of its spe- 
cies, in the larger size and higher 



Temperate-Zone 
flora. 



development of its individuals, and in their more 
graceful forms, heavier foliage, and deeper coloring; 
cause: the more abundant dispensation of light, 
heat, and moisture to the Temperate Zones. 

1141. Its forests. 

Are stately and magnificent, consisting of oaks, 
maples, beeches, birches, elms, hickories, lindens, 
poplars, etc., all dropping their leaves in Winter; 
intermingled with evergreen firs, spruces, hemlocks, 
pines, and cedars. 

1142. Grasses. 

Numerous species of grass, so delicate in stalk 
and leaf, so tender in fabric, and nutritious in qual- 



112 



THE FLORAS. 



ity, as to be excellent food for graminivorous ani- 
mals, clothe the Temperate Zones almost universally, 
where the country is not preoccupied with forests. 

1143. Characteristic growth. 

These delicate, eatable grasses are the distinctive 
and characteristic product of the Temperate Zones; 
they will not grow in the tropics by reason of the 
prodigious rains and inundations of the Wet Season, 
and the parching, long-continued heats of the Dry 
Season. 

1144. Flowers. 

The flowers of the Temperate Zones are remark- 
able rather for delicacy than for splendor of color- 
ing, strength of perfume, or largeness of size ; 
among the most common are the rose, pink, lily, 
violet, honeysuckle, narcissus and aster. 

1145. Fruits. 

In the Temperate Zones fruits are noted for 
" keeping well," rather than for lusciousness of 
flavor or extraordinary richness of variety ; the 
apple, king of fruits, here comes to perfection, the 
most beautiful, constant, and wholesome of fruits. 

1146. In addition. 

Are pears, plums, peaches, apricots, melons, the 
sugared fig; the olive, which is at once fruit, butter, 
and meat; and grapes which ripen their clusters to 
full perfection beneath a Temperate Sun. 

1147. The time of growth. 

The Temperate-Zone flora flourishes during only 
a part of the year, because heat is supplied in re- 
quired amounts during only a part of the year. 
This is just as it should be, for the plants all need 
an annual period of rest, and the ground a season 
of fallowness. 



THE TORRID-ZONE FLORA. 

1148. The flora of the tropics. 

Vastly excels the combined floras of the other 
Zones in variety of species, in the numbers, sizes, and 
high development of individuals. 



1149. Tropical forests. 

To the unaccustomed eye are fearful for their 
tremendous affluence of vegetation. The trees are 
enormous in height, their foliage immense in volume, 
and of the deepest coloring. 

1150. Trees most noted. 

The banian, spreading to a forest ; the baobab, 
longest-lived of trees ; the fragrant sandal ; the teak 
that turns the edge of steel ; the iron-wood, heavy 
as ore ; the lance-wood, elastic as whalebone ; and 
palms, towering to the height of three-hundred feet, 
their foliage streaming upward like arrows shot 
down from heaven ! 

1151. Vines and grasses. 

Vines, stupendous in size and variety, cover the 
forests with their growth, and crown them perpet- 
ually with resplendent and fragrant blossoms. In- 
stead of slender grasses, reeds twenty feet tall 
abound, and canes in vast variety ; especially the 
bamboo, the king of grasses, touching the height of 
sixty feet in the growth of a single year. 

1152. Fruits. 

In indescribable abundance and variety, and of 
the most luscious flavor, succeed one another in per- 
petual rotation, blossoming and ripening on the 
same plant all the year round ; the orange, the lem- 
on, the banana, the pine-apple, etc. 

1153. Tropical flowers. 

The characteristic flowers of the Torrid Zone are 
larger than those of the other Zones, are more gor- 
geous in coloring, and of a richer and stronger per- 
fume ; there being single flowers of the genus lily, 
three feet across. 

1154. Spices, gums. etc. 

The cinnamon, the clove, the nutmeg, the pepper, 
the allspice, etc. ; also the aromatic gums and bal- 
sams, the fragrant and costly resins, the frankin- 
cense, the camphor; the richly scented oils and in- 
cense-breathing essences — are elaborated from the 
juices of trees by the wondrous chemistry of tropi- 
cal heat and moisture. 



GENERAL VIEW OF ANIMALS. 



113 



Rationale of the 
Torrid-Zone flora. 



1155. Cause and growth-time of this profuse vegetation 

The magnificent vegetation of the 
tropics is due to the prodigal out- 
pouring of heat and moisture upon 
it ; accordingly its growth-time is the Wet Season, 
because heat and moisture are then most lavishly 
dispensed. 

1 156. 777/;/ tropical vegetation should be as it is. 

The flora of the Torrid Zone is thus abundant, in 
order that the light, heat, and moisture vouchsafed 



so freely to that Zone, may be made of the great- 
est avail, and as little wasted as possible. God will 
not squander water and sunshine, cheap as they are. 

1157. Secondly. 

The tropical flora is thus abundant to furnish suf- 
ficient quantity and variety of food to the innumer- 
able tribes of animals that inhabit the Torrid Zone-. 
The supply is none too great, for sooner or later it 
is eaten, either wholly, or in part, by animals high 
or low, great or small. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Animal*. Adaptation of Animals to the Inorganic World. Adaptation 
of Animals to Plants. Adaptation of Animals to .flan. 



GENERAL VIEW OF ANIMALS. 

1158. What is an animal 1 

An organic body that when living is possessed of 
sensation and voluntary motion. Some plants seem 
to have sensation and the power of voluntary mo- 
tion, but their contractile power is due simply to 
irritability. 

1159. Number of species. 

The number of species of animals is variously 
estimated from 150,000 to 320,000 ; 150,000 spe- 
cies are well known, and of these 120,000 are of in- 
sects. Sis hundred different species of flies have 
been noted in a district ten miles square in Ger- 
many. 

1160. Varieties. 

Every species of animal has several varieties, or 
sub-species, resembling but not identical with the 
original stock : hundreds of varieties of the horse, 



hog, dog, sheep, and ox, in different countries and 
climates, and at different periods, exist upon the 
Earth. 

1161. Two grand adaptations. 

All animals,— species, varieties, and individuals 
alike, are adapted, first to the inorganic world, and 
secondly, to other parts of the organic ivorld. 

1162. Adaptation of animals to water. 

Every animal uses water in great- 
er or less quantity ; some drink it, 
some eat it in their food, some ab- 
sorb it from the air ; but not one, 

however dry or husky it may look or feel, can live 
without it; therefore all animals are adapted to 
water. 

1163. Adaptation to air. 

Every animal needs and uses more or less of air ; 
the reptile in smothering mud, the fish in the mid- 



Adaptation of 

animals to the in- 
organic world. 



15 



1U 



THE ADAPTATIONS OF ANIMALS TO PLANTS, 



die depths of the sea, the worm in the heart of the 
hardest tree, need air as well as the goat on the 
windy mountain, or the condor in mid heaven; 
therefore all are adapted to air. 

1164. Adaptation to light. 

The eyes of all animals are adapted to light ; the 
staring orb of the owl, the little, bright, fur-cur- 
tained glass-bead optic of the mole, the heavy, ge- 
latinous eyeball of the shark, and the sunbeam- 
fronting eye of the eagle, are adapted to light in its 
various and varying intensities. 

1165. Adaptation to sound. 

The ears of all animals are adapted to sound ; the 
hare and the rabbit hear the tread of the huntsman 
a mile off, the haddock scarcely perceives the roar 
of the thunder, or the exploding cannon; but in so 
far as either has ears, those ears are perfectly adapt- 
ed to sound. 

1166. Adaptation to heat. 

The coverings of animals, — bristles, hair, wool, 
fur, feathers, quills, prickles, scales, shells, tough hide, 
thin membrane, all are fitted to the various degrees 
of heat in which different animals live. 

1167. Adaptation to the ground. 

Nearly all animals walk upon the ground, and to 
that end are shod with horny hoofs, wide-splayed 
like the earners, to walk the sand, or pointed like 
the goat's, to pick passage among rocks, dense and 
strong like the horse's, to bear the shock of weight 
and speed ; or else they are slippered with tough 
integuments, pain-proof and elastic, or soled with 
plates of shell, so that they all can walk comforta- 
bly upon it. 

1168. Adaptation to day and night. 

With what tranquillity and content do the vari- 
ous tribes of living creatures compose themselves 
to rest upon the approach of night, and with what 
freshness and alacrity greet the return of' day! so 
that all creatures are adapted to day and night Jn 
their order, and to the sweet alternation of light 
and shade. 



1160. Adaptation to the Seasons. 

Spring approaches ; birds build their nests, wild 
beasts seek out lairs and dens, insects prepare cells 
wherein to lay their eggs ; through the warm Sum- 
mer the tender young are reared and fed, cherished 
by the Sun and mellow air ; Autumn comes, some 
wing their way to softer climes, some hide in the 
ground, some in the clefts of trees and rocks, some 
die, but all find the Seasons long enough and none 
too long. Beautiful and mutual adaptation! 



ADAPTATIONS OF ANIMALS TO PLANTS. 

1170. The second grand adaptation of animals. 

As remarked in Answer 1161, animals are adapt- 
ed to other parts of the organic world, to plants 
and to man ; their adaptation to plants will first be 
considered. 

1171. Graminivorous* animals. 

Such as eat grasses, grains, leaves, roots, bark, 
or whatever grows in the vegetable kingdom, make 
up the larger number of animals as respects the 
number of both species and individuals; so com- 
prehensive is the adaptation of animals to plants. 

1172. No plant escapes. 

The solitary speck of moss in mid ocean has lit- 
tle jelly-like creatures living upon it and eating it ; 
sea-weeds at the depth of two miles support myri- 
ads of microscopic animals ; the " red-snow " plants 
of the Polar regions, though fine as dust them- 
selves, support creatures still smaller; the lichen on 
the mountain-peak furnishes home and food to little 
animals that without it would be homeless and 
foodless. 

1173. Further statement that no plant escapes. 

The monkshood, the nightshade, the swamp-su- 
mac, the noxious dog-wood, the tough leaf of the 
thistle, the pungent tuber of the wild onion, are all 



* Strictly speaking, the graminivorous tribes embrace only the ^rasa- 
eating animals; the term graminivorous is here used in its most compre- 
hensive sense. 



THE ADAPTATIONS OF ANIMALS TO PLANTS. 



115 



preyed upon ; forty species of am 
mals eat the common nettle, and 
" twenty thousand attack wheat." 

1174. Extent and manner of Uie adapt- 
ation. 

The adaptation extends to the lips 
for grasping, to the teeth for biting 
and grinding; to the stomach for 
digesting, to the whole form, habit, 
appetites, and constitution of the 
animal. 

1175. The ox, for example 
Has broad lips, sharp, projecting 

front teeth, large grinders, and a 
number of stomachs, by means of 
all which he secures and reduces to 
his wants a great amount of food. HiiSKss 

1176. The sheep. ^535? 
Has a sharp-pointed nose, nimble 

lips, is sure-footed and active, in a word is adapted 
to the rough, rocky pastures in which it so much 
delights. 

1177. The horse and the hog. 

The horse being lifted high upon long legs, to 
which he owes his fleetness and special usefulness, 
needs and has a long neck wherewith to reach the 
ground : whereas the hog delights in rooting for 
food ; hence his legs are short that he may be 
near the ground, and his neck is short and very 
strong. 

1178. The elephant. 

Is long-limbed and short-necked, and according- 
ly has a long proboscis with which to reach the 
ground and his food. 

1179. Without particularizing further. 

The adaptation of graminivorous animals to 
plants extends to this — that there is not a single in- 
dividual of the 125,000 species of plants but con- 
tributes to the support of sovie animal ; and of 
course the animal is adapted to the plant as well as 
the plant to the animal. 




The special and 
mutual adapta- 
tion of graminiv- 
orous and carniv- 
orous animals. 



1180 The vegetable-eating animals adapted to the flesh- 
eating. 

One class of animals is adapted 
to another in a remarkable man- 
ner ; the graminivorous animals are 
suited to be the food of carnivo- 
rous, and the carnivorous are made 
so as to devour the graminivorous. 

1181. The adaptation how extended in range 1 

The ocean is one vast scene of slaughter, the air 
is, full of rapine and bloodshed; there is not a 
spadeful of dirt but has creatures in it lying in 
wait to kill others, and there is not one second of 
time in the year when the note of distress might 
not be heard from some creature rendering up its 
life to another. 

1182. The adaptation intended. 

For the predatory species can live only upon 
animal food; they are armed with talons, fangs, 
claws, with speed, strength, rapacity of temper, 
with the arts of ambush, with courage and patience 
of pursuit, and with all the skill and power of dar- 
ing, desperate, and murderous assault. 



116 



THE ADAPTATION OF ANIMALS TO MAN. 



1183. What question is forced upon us 1 

How could a benevolent God suffer such crea- 
tures to exist, and thus permit perpetual anguish 
and distress to mingle with the content and happi- 
ness prevalent through all animated nature ? 

1184. The first answer. 

There is no immortality in this "World ; every 
animal must die by slow decay, disease, or violence, 
and since animals cannot receive the attentions 
which soften the sufferings of lingering disease or 
decay, the death of violence would certainly seem 
preferable, because being speedy, it involves the 
least of distress. 

1185. Even if not chosen. 

Even if the natural dread of death would pre- 
vent the animal from choosing the violent death, 
yet it would avoid much suffering by the choice, 
and so God has chosen it for him. 

118(1. Secondly, men rescued from wild beasts. 

Testify that while in their power a stupor deadens 
the faculties, and that the pains of laceration are 
scarcely felt ; observation would seem to show that 
the same is true of animals, and that they are con- 
scious of but little suffering, even while being torn 
in pieces. 

1187. Thirdly, animals cannot reflect. 

Therefore violent death is not anticipated or 
dreaded by them ; the rabbit and hare are as hap- 
py as the fox, the mouse as happy as the cat, the 
flying-fish as happy as the dolphin, and the sparrow 
as happy as the hawk. 

1188. Fourthly, all animals need employment. 

The preservation of themselves and their young 
furnishes employment to the species preyed upon ; 
the toils of hunting and watching are sufficient em- 
ployment to the carnivorous tribes. Every animal 
has to work hard for his living. 

1189. Fifthly, the over-increase of animals. 

Many species of animals tend to over-increase of 
numbers, so that the Earth could not support them 
all ; the carnivorous tribes restrain this over-in- 
crease, and thus prevent much suffering, for if the 



super-fecundity were not checked, millions would 
die in the lingering agonies of starvation. 

1190. No danger of extinction. 

Even those species most preyed upon are in no 
danger of extinction ; rabbits, mice, and rats, her- 
ring, cod-fish, and mackerel, flies, bugs, and worms, 
are as numerous as ever. 

1191. Our conclusion. 

The adaptation in question, namely, of graminiv- 
orous to be the food of carnivorous animals, and of 
carnivorous to devour the graminivorous, is a be- 
nevolent adaptation on the whole and in view of all 
the circumstances.* 



ADAPTATION" OF ANIMALS TO MAN. 



1192. The physical qualities of animals. 

Such as their size, strength, swift- 
ness, etc., are in perfect adaptation 
to the necessities of man. Thus if 



Adaptation of 
animals to man. 



wild animals were much larger, stronger, swifter, 
and tougher than they are, they would be antago- 
nists too mighty for man. 

1193. The domestic animals also. 

If possessed of the supposed qualities, would be 
less handy, manageable, and serviceable ; would be 
subdued with more difficulty, and could be kept in 
only precarious subjection. 

1194. Flexibility of constitution. 

The domestic animals have great flexibility of 
constitution, so that they can go into, and adapt 
themselves unto every region in which man wants 
them. Thus the horse has gone to England, and 
has grown to the huge-dray horse ; to Iceland, 
and has dwindled to the pony ; to Barbary, and has 
become the winged courser that outstrips the wind. 

1195. The ox. 

On the fat pastures of Belgium, elephantine in 
bulk ; on the frosty hillsides of Norway, stunted to 



* The author is responsible for only the language of this discussion of 
the question, — Why carnivorous animals exist? the ideas are Paley's. 



THE ADAPTATION OF ANIMALS TO MAN. 



Ill 



a steer ; on the pampas of South America, gaunt, 
sinewy, and swift as an antelope — has shaped him- 
self to his condition. In Norway and Iceland cat- 
tle in the Winter thrive upon frozen fish. So adapt- 
able is the constitution of domestic animals to the 
necessities of man. 

1196. The hog. 

In different regions, fattens upon maize, yams, 
manioc, millet, mast, cocoa-nuts, and bread-fruit ; 
upon fish, molluscs, the offal of seals and whales; 
upon frogs, snakes, and vermin, and converts them 
all into pork which man can and does eat, and finds 
tolerably good food! 

1197. The mental qualities of animals. 

Are in as perfect adaptation to the necessities of 
man. If wild animals knew more than they do, 
they could with even their present physical capabil- 
ities, bid defiance to man. If the domestic animals 
knew more, they would not submit to the yoke of 
man, and would mock his assumption of authority; 
nothing but man's superior intelligence makes him 
securely lord of the lower creation. 

1198. The strong point of adaptation. 
The most admirable fact in the 

adaptation of animals to man is the 
fact, first, that any animals at all 
can be domesticated, and second, 
that such animals can be domesticated. 

1199. First, awj animals. 

If man could not subdue to his use any animal 
whatsoever, civilization would be out of the ques- 
tion, for man could not do all the work alone, and 
he could not lay it off upon inanimate forces, winds, 
waters, etc. 

1200. Accordingly man's first step from barbarism. 
Consists in the subduing of animals to his uses; 

animals that plow and harrow the ground, draw 
dirt and stone, haul out timber, and lend help in a 
thousand situations where no machine would answer 
the purpose. 

1201. The higher the civilization. 

So much the more labor does man lay off upon 



Two main facts 
in the adaptation 
of animals toman. 



animals, and thus he accomplishes vastly more, and 
gets time and saves strength for higher activities, 
for thought and for mental culture. 

1202. Secondly, such animals. 

The domestic animals are peculiarly valuable to 
man because they combine so many useful quali- 
ties, — intelligence, docility, amiability, strength, 
swiftness, universality of distribution, suitableness 
of flesh for food, and of all parts of their bodies to 
innumerable uses. 

1203. The number of domestic animals. 

Like the staple food-plants, the domestic animals 
are few in the number of species ; the ox, the horse, 
the sheep, the hog, the camel, and the .reindeer are 
the most important. Yet there is no need of more, 
for these suffice the leading loants of mankind; the 
ox for strength, the horse, reindeer, and camel for 
draught and speed ; the ox, sheep, and hog for food 
and in part for clothing. 

1204. The qualified favor shown man. 

Great favor has been shown man in giving him 
such helpers, but a qualified favor, for he does not 
have their help without labor and painstaking; no 
animal will work for man unless compelled to ; every 
animal is born ivild. 

1205. Develop them also. 

Man has not only to train and 
subdue his helpers, but also to de- 
velop their crude and narrow native 
capacities to the full compass of his 
own requirements. Thus a sheep gaunt as a grey- 
hound and haired like a dog, can be cultured to 
bearing a fleece like down, and to taking on fatness 
like a swine. 

1206. The wild hog. • 

In his native forests a formidable beast, heavy- 
tusked, coarse-bristled, fierce, cunning, and fleet as 
a zebra, can be converted into the Suffolk pig, buried 
in fat, and evermore sleeping in deep content ! 

1207. Universally. 

The domestic animals, from the camel to the cat, 
without exception, owe the high development of 



Man has to de- 
velop the domes- 
tic animals. 



118 



THE DISTRIBUTION OP ANIMALS. 



their admirable qualities to the painstaking and ju- 
dicious management of man. 

1208. Man's position. 

As in respect to the food-plants, so in respect to 
domestic animals, man is co-ioorker with God. tak- 



ing up the work where God leaves it, and carrying 
it to perfection. This burden is indeed weighty, but 
it is salutary, for it compels man to the exercise of 
his faculties, and will not let him be a mere plod- 
ding, unthinking being. 




THE CORMORANT. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



The Distribution of Animals. The Polar, Temperate-Zone, and Tropical 

Faunas. 



DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 



1209. The original distribution of animals. 

The different species are supposed to have been 
located at particular points or centrer, and from them 
to have spread by their locomotive power into such 
regions as are favorable to their reception. . 

1210. The distribution of domestic animals. 

The domestic animals, in one species or another, 



have spread into every clime in which man lives; 
this universality is mainly due to the care exercised 
by man in their behalf, though in part to their pe- 
culiar flexibility of constitution. 

1211. The ox. 

The auroch, the original stock of the domestic 
ox, is still found in Poland and Lithuania ; thence 
it has spread throughout the whole World ; in par- 



THE POLAR AND T E M P E 11 A T E - Z N E FAUNAS. 



119 



ticular, carried to South America, the species has 
gone wild again, and covers its grassy plains by 
millions. 

1212. The horse. 

The original stock of the horse still wanders wild 
upon the steppes of Tartary ; thence transferred to 
all parus of the Earth, it has become the invaluable 
servant of man. Vast droves of horses thrive in 
recovered native freedom on the plains of South 
America. 

1213. The sheep. 

The original stock of the domestic sheep is found 
among the mountains of Corsica and Sardinia, un- 
der the name of the musmon, a fierce, huge-horned, 
swift-footed animal. Thence it has spread to all 
latitudes, and throughout all meridians. 

1214. The hog. 

Is still found in his original freedom and fierce- 
ness among the forests of the German mountains. 
Thence he has emigrated so widely under the guid- 
ance and care of man, that he is now almost as 
universal as man himself. 

1215. The dog and cat. 

Natural enemies subdued and reconciled by man, 
have been with him so widely and so long, that 
their native country is unknown ; the dog runs wild 
in packs in South Africa, and the cat harbors in 
many varieties in the copses of Europe and Asia. 



POLAR AND TEMPERATE-ZONE FAUNAS. 

1216. A fauna. 

The fauna of a Zone or country embraces all the 
animals belonging to that Zone or country. 

1217. The Polar-Zone fauna. 

Consists almost entirely of car- 
nivorous animals ; graminivorous 
animals could find but little to eat 
even if placed in those Zones. 

1218. The most important animals. 

The Polar bear, toughest of quadrupeds ; wolves, 
gaunt with famine and' hunting in packs ; the glut- 



Polar-Zone fauna. 



ton, slayer of the nimble deer ; wolverines, foxes, 
sables, otters, ermines, and beavers, clad in lustrous 
furs; the reindeer, — the camel, cow, and sheep of the 
snowy North ; the musk-ox, odorous with lasting 
perfume; and the dog, at once companion, slave, 
and food to man. 

■ 1219. Birds. 

In the Summer, multitudes of sea-birds, — -ducks 
and geese, together with cormorants, penguins, 
skuas, etc., line the shores of the Polar waters, living 
upon fish, mollusca, and sea-weed, and devoured in 
turn by carnivorous animals. 

1220. Characteristics of the Polar fauna. 

The fauna of the Polar regions is noted for its 
uniformity ; the number of species is small, but of 
individuals enormously great, and all are noted for 
their light coloring / the bears are clad in dubious 
white, the wolves and foxes in gray, the sea-birds 
in snowy plumage ; even the fish are pale-hued, and 
shine with no splendor on their scales. 

1221. The Polar fauna how supported'? 

Since the lands yield little food, the fauna of the 
Polar Zones lives upon the food supplied by the 
sea. Either directly or remotely nearly every ani- 
mal in this fauna owes its living to the ocean. 

1222. Life in the Polar oceans. 

The waters of the Polar seas are replete with liv- 
ing creatures, — the whale in seven different species; 
the narwhal, with a tusk like the weaver's beam ; 
the walrus, the seal, the sword-fish, and the shark. 
Here are bred the migratory fish that go forth by 
millions, feeding the nations as they march; the 
cod-fish, the pilchard, the herring, the haddock, and 
the whiting. 

1223. The fauna of the Temperate Zones. 

Exhibits a greater number of spe- 
cies, with a smaller number of in- 
dividuals in each species. As a 
general statement, the animals are 

of a higher type, of more graceful forms and move 
ments, of brighter colors and more brilliant plu 
mage. 



Temperate-Zone 
fauna. 



120 



THE TORRID-ZONE FAUNA. 



1221. Temperate-Zone carnivora. 

The grizzly bear, terrible for tough- 
ness, activity, and strength ; the brown 
bear of Europe, the black bear of 
America; the panther, whose spring 
is like the arrow's flight; the cougar, 
subtle as a serpent; wolves, more ter- 
rible in their combined numbers than 
the lion ; the wise fox, and the crafty 
lynx. 

1225. Teraperate-Zone graminivora. 
The sheep, the goat, the deer, the 

ox in numerous varieties, the moose or 
elk, and chiefly the bison — fit inhab- 
itant and monarch of North Amer 
ica's majestic plains — all feeding upon 
grass and chewing the cud. 

1226. Wild cattle, etc. 

Vast herds of wild cattle and horses 
thrive upon the savannahs and grassy 
prairies of the Temperate Zones; a 
fact which shows how favorable these 
Zones are for grazing purposes, since 
the congregated millions get no food 
or care from man. 




THE RHINOSCEKOS - 



' THE JUNGLE KING.' 



THE TORRID-ZONE FAUNA. 

1227. The tropical fauna. 

Surpasses both the others in its vast variety of 
species, in the high development and general per- 
fection of its individuals, in the elegance of their 
forms, in the brilliancy of their colors, and the splen- 
dor of their plumage. 

1228. Tropical carnivora. 

At the head, the lion, the incarnation of majestic 
and terrible beauty, the swing of whose tail will 
knock down the strongest man, and the tap of 
whose paw break in the whole broadside of a 
horse's ribs ! The tiger, " the arrow" still more 
sanguinary, that can spring a reach of forty feet, 
and canter for miles with a buffalo between his jaws. 



1229. Follow in order. 

Jaguars ; leopards agile and beautiful, but blood- 
thirsty and treacherous; the ounce, the jackal, the 
chetah, the puma, the hyena that feeds upon rankest 
carrion, and robs the sepulcher of its dead. 

1230. Tropical graminivora. 

Assume proportions and characteristics which 
render them formidable; the elephant in troops, 
wasting the fields of a province in a day ; the rhi- 
nosceros, voracious as a swine, and cased in a hide 
as thick as an oaken plank ; the hippopotamus, 
sleeping in mud and ooze all day, and trampling and 
devouring in the cane-brake or the corn-field all 
night. 



THE TORRID-ZONE FAUNA. 



121 



1231. The horse, etc. 

The horse in perfection, such as clothes himself 
with speed; the giraffe, outspeeding the simoon of 
the desert; the zebra, banded like a serpent, un- 
tamable as beautiful; together with the wild ass, 
the buffalo ; the antelope, swift as the flight of a 
javelin ; and the camel, ugly to behold, but worthy 
to be crowned the real king of beasts for useful- 
ness. . 

1232. Tropical birds. 

Are distinguished for size, variety, and for the 
splendor of their plumage ; examples : the os- 
trich, strong as a horse ; the condor, spreading a 
fifteen-foot stretch of pinion ; the peacock, irised 
with rainbow-splendors ; and the bird of Paradise, 
lustrous with the yellow hue of the topaz, and the 
bright green of the emerald. 

1233. Tropical serpent-tribes. 

Embrace nearly all the various species most ter- 
rible for deadliness of bite, malignancy of temper, 
and great size. The constrictors, that secure their 
prey by squeezing them to death, are represented 
in the boa of Africa, the python of India, and the 
anaconda of South America ; all growing to thirty 
feet in length, and to a strength that can crush a 
buffalo to death. 




1234. The venomous species. 

Hooded serpents, triangle-heads, horned snakes, 
aspics, the elaps, the rattlesnake here reaching the 
acme of destructiveness ; many of them envenomed 
with a poison so violent and rapid as in two or 
three hours to rot the flesh of the victim from off 
his bones ! * 

1235. Add to the foregoing. 

A host less ingloriously distinguished, but not 
more lovely ; scorpions big as one's fist and black 
as a coal ; toads of monstrous size and aspect ; liz- 
ards, all-devouring ants, centipedes, cockroaches, 
alligators, crocodiles ; the locust, the " slayer of na- 
tions ;" and spiders covered with hair and tinted 
with the most baneful coloring. 

1236. The insect-tribes. 

Are almost numberless in species, and inconceiva- 
bly numerous in individuals; the forests swarm 
with them ; each hour of the . day and night gives 
place to new species, each with its peculiar buzz, and 
sting, and venom. 

1237. Cause of this abundant development. 
First, the tropical fauna owes its 

high development to the hot and 
humid climate of the Torrid Zone, 
because in such a climate animals 
can breed all the year round. 

1238. Preservation of the young, etc. 

The softness of the climate tends greatly to the 
increase of numbers, since the new-born young and 
eggs unhatched are not killed by a moment's negli- 
gence on the part of the parent, as in other Zones ; 
hence thousands of species, like the ostrich, croc- 
odile, alligator, and insects innumerable, leave their 
maternal duties to be performed by the sun-heat. 

1239. Abundant food-supplies. 

Thirdly, the profuse vegetation of these regions 
furnishes inexhaustible food-supplies close at hand ; 



*Hooded serpents, the cobra di capello of India. Triangle-heads, the 
trigonocephali of the Antilles. Horned snakes, the cerastes of Africa. 
Aspics, the famous Egyptian snake. Elaps, a terribly poisonous reptile 
of Guiana. 



Causation of the 
high development 
of tropical fauna. 



122 



MANS PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 



so that millions of creatures thrive and mul- 
tiply, which in the other Zones would starve to 
death, or linger along unable to rear young. 

1240. Why is the tropical fauna so abundantly 
developed ■? 



Why the tropi- 
ical fauna is as it 



First, in order that the mag- 
nificent vegetation of the Tor- 
rid Zone may not run to waste, 
or be of less than the highest 
possible avail; secondly, in order that the 
light, heat, and moisture so lavishly poured 
out upon it, may do something more than stir 
the juices of plants, may be beneficent in the 
highest degree. 

1241. Animals that harass and destroy. 

Are more numerous in this than in all other 
Zones ; in accordance with the law that the evil and 
the good go hand in hand in equal proportion ; al- 




THB LOCUST " THE SLAYER OF NATIONS. 



so, because they have more material here to work 
upon ; and to the end that they may contribute to 
man's physical probation. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



Man's Physical Characteristics. Man's Intelligence and Position. 



MAN'S PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 

1242. What is man I 

Man is an animal because he has the structure, 
composition, instincts, appetites, and passions com- 
mon to animals. 

1243. What of man's size ? 

Man is a very large animal, for of 
the 150,000 species of animals, by Siz ' 6 of man - 
far the greater number are vastly 
smaller than he ; more definitely, the animal, man, 
is on an average five feet eight inches tall, weighs 



136 pounds avoirdupois, and the mass of his body 
would fill a cubic measure sixteen inches on a side. 

1244. His size adjusted to what 1 



Man'ssize adapt- 
ed to the ease . 



His size appears to have been 
very carefully adjusted to the la- 
bors required of him in his present 
condition ; if every man were as large as Goliah, 
how difficult would it be for him to take care of the 
domestic animals, to graft trees, to reap harvests, 
and gather crops, and to ply the numberless petty 
arts growing out of civilization ! 



MANS PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 



123 



Man's longevity. 



Man's strength. 



1215. If every man were small as Tom Thumb ? 

How could he brave and conquer the winds and 
waters, how cultivate the stubborn soil, how cut 
down great forests, drain marshes, smelt and forge 
refractory ores, how, in a word, bear up under the 
inevitable toils of life, rendered inevitably hard by 
the constitution of nature ? 

1246. Man's durability or longevity. 
Man is a long-lived animal ; very 

few animals live longer. He some- 
times lives one-hundred years ; sev- 
enty, frequently, but the average age of man is 
about thirty years. The average would be still 
higher but for the vast numbers that die in infan- 
cy; a result due to man's extreme fragility at that 
period of life, and to mismanagement and negli- 
gence such as no other animals are guilty of. 

1247. In point of strength. 

Man is weak in proportion to his 
bulk and weight, as compared with 
the majority of animals. In a few 
remarkable cases he can lift four or five times his 
weight, but in vastly the majority of instances not 
more than twice his weight. 

1248. Notwithstanding his weakness. 

Man is the most effective working animal on the 
Earth; an effect due, first, to the perfection of his 
structure, which enables him to accomplish much with 
the outlay of comparatively little power ; and due, 
secondly, to his intelligence, which enables him to 
lay out his power most judiciously and economically. 

1249. The temperature of the human body. 

Is 98° upon Fahrenheit's scale, 
38|° higher than the average tem- 
perature of the Globe ; hence man, 
having no adequate natural covering, is obliged to 
wear clothing. 

1250. As respects toughness. 

Man is, compared with other ani- 
mals of his size and weight, exceed- 
ingly delicate, being utterly unable 
to bear the heat, cold,' wet, and general exposure 



Man's tempera- 
ture. 



Man'B toughness. 



which the generality of animals will undergo with- 
out detriment. This applies to man only in his nat- 
ural condition ; for by the exercise of his reason, 
and by putting to use the various appliances about 
him, he can out-endure all other animals. 

1251. How man comes to be delicate. 

The delicacy of man is in part designed of 
Providence, that he may be compelled to use his rea- 
son ; had he been tough as a bear, and strong as an 
ox, he would have been tempted to rely upon his 
physical energies alone. 

1252 In that case. 

He would always have remained a mere savage, 
or rather a mere beast, so far as regards the exer- 
cise of his nobler capacities, and could have accom- 
plished but little in comparison with what he has 
accomplished by the exercise of his reason. 

1253. But secondly, man's misdoings. 

In so far as his delicacy results in avoidable sick- 
ness, pain, disease, and untimely death, it is the 
fruit of man's own misdoings ; such as gluttony, 
intemperance, careless exposure to heat and cold, 
unrestrained passions, marriage-alliances without 
regard to health and temperament ; with a number- 
loss catalogue of vices, miscalculations, and errors 
of life and conduct. 

1254. In consequence of this misconduct. 
Man is a sickly animal ; all the 

other tribes of animals together, are 
not liable to sickness so much as 
man. Yet this disability has result- 
ed in much good; seeking for remedies, man has got 
a very large part of his knowledge of the properties 
of plants and minerals, and thus has become more 
thoroughly master of the World. 

1255. A still higher good. 

Sickness cultivates the noblest and loveliest vir- 
tues, patience, hope, resignation, higher than angel 
virtues, for angels have no scope for the exercise of 
such ; it loosens the bonds that bind us here, and 
thus gradually prepares us to exchange the present 
for another state of being. 



Man a sickly an- 
imal. 



124 



MANS INTELLIGENCE AND POSITION. 



Man's position 
eviuced by his bod- 
ily structure. 



MAN'S INTELLIGENCE AND POSITION. 

1256. Man's position. 
Although other animals may be 

swifter or tougher, yet man is lord 
of the lower creation, by reason of 
the perfection of his structure, even 
if no other circumstance be taken into account. 

1257. More specifically. 

All the nobler animals are made after a certain 
type, the leading feature of which is a vertebral 
column, or backbone, and in man this model is seen 
in full perfection ; in animals the rough casts of the 
model are seen, which in man is touched to full- 
ness of beauty.* 

1258. Chiefly, why lord of the world. 

Man's chief claim to be lord of the lower crea- 
tion rests upon his possession of a soul, — a reason- 
ing intellect wedded to moral sensibilities, and gov- 
erned by a conscience. Animals bave mind in va- 
rious degrees, a few can reason, but not one can 
distinguish between good and evil. 

1259. Our definition of man. 

An animal gifted with a soul, — 
possessing instincts, appetites, and 
passions, allying him to beasts, to- 
gether with intellect, moral sensibility, and con- 
science, allying him to God. 

1260. The only intelligent animal. 

Man is the only intelligent animal, the only "one 
in whom the instinctive and the physical are subor- 
dinated to the intellectual and the spiritual. God 
did more for man than vitalize him when he breath- 
ed into him a living soul. 

1261. By his soul man is fitted for his position. 
As man's intelligence distinguish- 



Definition of man. 



es him from all other "animals, so it Man's intelli- 
gence fits him for 

is precisely ichat makes him suited his position. 

to his situation ; so true is this that : 

even the inorganic world implies in its leading fea- 



* See Book Second of Series. 



tures the need of an intelligent animal to be its 
lord and master. 

12 32. First, soils. 

Soils all require cultivation that their capacities 
may be developed and perfected ; none but an in- 
telligent animal can cultivate soils, therefore soils 
imply the need of an intelligent animal. 

1263. Secondly, the waters. 

By all the actual and possible uses to which they 
may be put in the arts and sciences, in naviga- 
tion, manufacturing, and the innumerable every- 
day offices of man's life, imply the need of an in- 
telligent animal that these uses run not to waste. 

1264. Thirdly, the winds. 

Without an intelligent animal to use their motive 
power, the winds would blow in vain so far as re- 
spects their noblest uses ; therefore they imply the 
need of an intelligent animal. 

1265. The various minerals and metals. 

Hidden in the depths of the ground, secreted in 
devious veins, or bound up in dense conglomerates, 
would have been created all in vain, did not an in- 
telligent animal exist to conquer them with fire and 
forge, and compel them to their various uses. 

1266. The organic world. 

The organic world, in like manner, proves that 
man's intelligence fits him for his position. Thus, 
food-plants need cultivation and care, and will come 
to nothing without cultivation and care ; but no 
other than an intelligent animal can bestow cultiva- 
tion and care. 

1267. The uses of all plants. 

From the mushroom to the live-oak, and from the 
bramble to the banian, through all the ages, and in 
all the offices of life, imply the need of an intelli- 
gent animal to put them to account. 

1268. Proved by animals. 

The domestic animals imply the same need, that 
they may be subdued, domesticated, and developed; 
the uses of all animals in all the offices of eiviliza- 



THE HUMAN RACES. 



125 



tion imply the necessity of an intelligent animal to 
bring those uses into exercise. 

1269. Man's measure or degree of intelligence. 
Man has just the right measure 

of intelligence; this appears because 
he can by the exercise of it all, make 
and keep himself master of Iheworlcl. 

1270. Had his intelligence been greater or less. 

Had it been angelic, the petty cares and labors 
which inevitably make up the sum of life, would have 



Man's amount 
of intelligence just 
right. 



been miserably disproportionated to his mighty fac- 
ulties ; had it been less, his slender physical organ- 
ization would not alone have enabled him to main- 
tain his stand as lord of the Earth; his intelligence, 
not his strength, sustains him. 

1271. Man's triumphs. 

His present faculties have enabled him to achieve 
splendid triumphs over nature and the brute crea- 
tion ; earth, air, water, fire, steam, electricity, and 
magnetism, as well as plants and animals, have been 
pressed into his service. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



The Human Races. Descriptive View of the Races. 



The varieties of 
mankind and their 
causes. 



THE HUMAN" RACES. 

1272. Mankind one species. 

It is acknowledged that mankind 
belong to one and the same species, 
and that the so-called Races are 
simply varieties of that species ; a 
position not at all startling, since the difference be- 
tween different races is no greater than exists be- 
tween different varieties of the same species of 
plants and animals. 

1273 The cause of these varieties, or races. 

Is supposed to be the influence of different cli- 
mates, diet, manners, and customs, education, relig- 
ion, government, and in short of a totally diverse life. 

1274. Different modes of living. 

It is well known that different modes and condi- 
tions of living will greatly change the expression 
of face and person, even in a single generation, and 
in the lifetime of one man ; for example, the pro- 



fessional man is readily distinguished from the la- 
borer, the temperate man from the sot, the glutton 
from the anchorite. 

1275. Differences perpetuated. 

These differences are well known to be perpetua- 
ted in the offspring; the peasant transmits to his 
children his dull rude muscle, his heavy-jointed 
bones, his coarse features and iron nerves; the 
children of the scholar rarely fail to exhibit the del- 
icate organization, the chastened form and features, 
and high-strung nervous sensibility of the parent. 

1276. Cause of degree of diversity. 

It is an almost absolute necessity that the differ- 
ent races should be as they are, exceedingly diverse 
in characteristics, because of the universality of 
man and his consequent exposure to so unlike influ- 
ences, in different regions.* 

* Tor a fuller discussion of this subject, see Book Second of Series. 



126 



DESCRIPTIVE VIEW OF THE RACES. 



DESCBIPTIVE VIEW OF THE RACES. 

1277 Names of the races. 

The races are called, Caucasian, Mongolian, 
Ethiopian, Indian, and Malay. 

1278. The Caucasian race, 

So called because it is conjectured 
to have spread from the vicinity of 
the Caucasus mountains as a geo- 



The Caucasian 



graphic center, and because the finest specimens of 
the race, so far as regards mere physical attributes, 
are the Caucasian mountaineers — takes precedence, 
of the other races in both physical and mental capa- 
bilities. 

1219. Their physical characteristics, 

Are as follows : the person is tall and slender, 
lithe and easy in motion, and well-proportioned 
throughout. The head is oval, the facial angle f 
large, the forehead projecting, the axis of the eyes 
right-angled to the line of the nose ; the features in 
general fine-cut, the eyes and the whole countenance 
expressive. 

1280. Complexion of the Caucasian race, 

Varies from the fair and florid of the German or 
Englishman, and from the swarthy of the Greek or 
Spaniard, to the deep brown and almost black of 
the Arab or Moor. The characteristic color of the 
race is a fresh blonde with red cheeks. 

1281. The Caucasian race in point of distribution. 

Nations of the Caucasian stock occupy all Europe 
except Turkey, Hungary, Lapland, and Finland ; 
southwestern Asia as far as the Ganges ; all parts 
of America settled by Europeans, and the north of 
Africa. 

1282. The menial characteristics of this race. 

A high development of the reflective, reasoning, 
and conceptive powers, keen susceptibility to the 
finer emotions and sentiments, and highly organized 
moral faculties. 



tThe facial angle, formed by a line from the tip of the ear to the 
teeth, and thence to the eye. 



The Mongolian 
race. 



1283. The Mongolian race, 

So named because the seat and 
center of the race is Mongolia, com- 
prehends the populations of Asia 
(except those of the Caucasian race before men- 
tioned), also the Lapps, Finns, Turks, and Hunga- 
rians, in Europe, and the Esquimaux of America. 

1284. Their physical characteristics. 

The person is short and thick-set ; the hair coarse, 
black, and straight ; the face broad and flat, the 
features imperfectly discriminated ; the outer angle 
of the eyes turned upward to the temples ; the 
complexion a tawny-yellow, intermediate between 
that of " wheat and dried orange-peel." 

1285. Their mental characteristics. 

Low intellectuality in all the higher departments 
of reason, reflection, and imagination, obtuse moral 
and emotional susceptibilities, inconsiderable spirit 
and ambition. 

1286. The Ethiopian race, 

Occupy all Africa south of the 

Sahara and of Abyssinia ; also Aus- The Negro race. 

tralia, Borneo, and several other 

islands in the Pacific Ocean. The race is so named 
because its finest and most characteristic specimens 
are found in Central Africa or Ethiopia. 

1287. Their physical characteristics. 

The body large and strong, the limbs crooked, 
the forehead low and sloping, the hind-head protu- 
berant, the eyes full, black and expressive, the nose 
flat, the lips thick, the upper jaw projecting; hair 
coarse and woolly ; characteristic color ebony-black. 

1288. Their mental characteristics. 

Low intellectuality with very strong sensibilities, 
emotions, and passions ; a cheerful and happy tem- 
perament, and a distaste for labor of mind or body. 

1289. This mental constitution. 

As it has rendered it possible to subject the ne- 
gro to slavery, so has it enabled him to bear up un- 
der that slavery, and has alleviated its hardships. 
No race less cheerful and unreflective could have 
thrived under the bondage of so many ages. 



MAN AND CIVILIZATION. 



127 



1290. The Indian race, 



The Indian race. 



The Malay race. 



Occupy all America except where 
the Caucasian and Mongolian races 
have displaced them, as before 
shown. Physical characteristics, — athletic frames ; 
coarse, straight, black hair, never cnsping or curl- 
ing ; a copper-colored complexion ; black, piercing 
eyes ; high cheek bones ; broad face, and scanty 
beard. 

1291. Their mental characteristics. 

A fair degree of intellectuality, low sensibilities 
and emotions, cold, phlegmatic temperament, and 
unconquerable hatred for labor and civilized life. 

1292. The Malay race. 

Inhabit the islands of the Indian 
Archipelago and of the Pacific, ex- 
cepting those occupied by the Ethi- 
opian race as before noted. Physical characteris- 
tics, — the body slender, but sinewy and active ; the 
top of the head narrowed ; the face somewhat 
wider than the negro's ; the hair and complexion 
black, though the latter often looks like old ma- 
hogany. 

1293. Their mental characteristics. 

Low reflective power, very quick perceptions, 
strong emotions and passions, developing them- 
selves in cruelty and debauched habit of life ; 
treachery and cunning, with considerable energy 
and spirit of enterprise. 

1294. This classification unsatisfactory. 

This classification is at best vague and unsatis- 
factory. The races pass into one another by gra- 
dations so insensible that it is almost impossible to 
specify their distinctive features, or to draw the 
line of demarkation between them. 

1295. Tabular view of the World's population. 



Of the Caucasian race, 
Of the Mongolian, - 
Of the Ethiopian, 
Of the Malay, - 
Of the Indian, 

Sum total, 



490,000,000 

425,000,000 

50,000,000 

25,000,000 

- 10,000,000 

1,000,000,000 



Phys. geog. and 
material civili- 
zation. 



MAN" AND CIVILIZATION. 

1296. Under the above heading what is to be shown? 

That man is compelled by the 
physical geography of the earth to 
take the primary and principal steps 
toward civilization. 

1297. Man is compelled to agriculture, 

He is compelled to agriculture by that universal 
fact — that soils will not be fruitful, and food-plants 
will not flourish without cultivation. 

1298. Man is compelled to commerce, 

Because no single region will yield all the es- 
sential articles of food, or of raiment, nor all the 
metals, nor medicines, nor the materials of art, 
elegance, and luxury. 

1299. Man is compelled to manufacturing, 

Because nature yields only raw products, and 
man cannot use raw products ; he has not strength 
enough alone to work up the raw material, and so 
is obliged to harness the winds, waters, and steam 
to machinery to help him ; in a word, is compelled 
to manufacture. 

1300. Origin of natural science. 

In his unavoidable labors upon the 
minerals, metals, and the various ele- 
ments of nature, man gathers much 



Phys. geog. and 
intellectual civi- 
lization. 



and exact knowledge of their qualities and capa- 
bilities, which reduced to system constitutes the 
rich treasures of natural science. 

1301. Origin of society. 

In the prosecution of his labors, man is con- 
strained to unite in society, for such is the consti- 
tution of nature that union of effort is essential to 
success, and union of effort is not possible save in 
society. 

1302. Origin of education. 

Man soon learns that mental discipline conduces 
to success in even the commonest every-day em- 
ployments, — that a well-trained mind is power and 
capital ; thus education is necessitated by the 
physical geography of the earth, and the labors 
srowina; out of it. 



128 



MAN AND CIVILIZATION. 



1303. The formation of nations. 

Peoples separated by oceans, seas, by extensive 
and lofty mountain-chains, or by wide-expanded 
deserts, rarely coalesce into one nationality ; but 
when compacted together by surrounding seas, 
mountains or deserts, they tend strongly to national 
consolidation ; so that physical geography modifies 
the formation of nations. 

1304. The government of nations. 

Both in its general form and spirit, and in its 
special ordinances, must vary with the physical 
conditions of different regions. The system of 
policy suited to the Switzer or the Circassian in his 
mountain fastnesses, would not be adapted to the 
Chinese or the Hindoos inhabiting vast and fertile 
plains, or to the Malayan, or the Greek islander 
on his sea-girt domains. 

1305. Religions modified by physical geography. 

Zabaism, the worship of Sun, Moon, and 
Stars, is the natural religion of a people living 
under a cloudless sky glowing with the luster of 
almost supernaturally brilliant constellations, as on 
the plains of Persia. The worship of serpents and 
beasts is natural in regions where life is continually 
endangered by their venom and voracity, as in 
Egypt, India, and all Africa. 

1306. Mohammedanism. 

That fills its heaven with running streams, per- 



petual verdure, cool winds, and with houris re- 
splendent in beauty, with all sensual delights, is 
the natural religion of the ardent, sensuous tropical 
man. 

1307. Even Christianity. 

Breathes of the East where it originated, in its 
forms and symbols, in its parables, poetry, senti- 
ment, and illustrations, and as practiced in different 
regions ; though one and the same in essence, it 
yet assumes varieforni shapes in adaptation to the 
physical conditions of those regions. 

1308. The manners and customs of a people. 

Are largely dependent upon the physical geogra- 
phy of the region which they inhabit. For ex- 
ample, the maimers and customs, the habits and 
fashions, the entire national and individual life of 
the Finn, or the Tartar, or the Greenlander amid 
his snows, must differ from those of the Arab, the 
Sandwich Islander, or the Greek, because their 
physical surroundings are so different. 

1309. Final conclusion. 

We perceive that Physical Geography takes 
knowledge of the whole System of Earth and of 
Man ; of the Earth as a mighty assemblage of 
adaptations, and of Man to whom all these adapt- 
ations tend, in whom they center, and who is their 
crown and consummation. 



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